Jean-Michel Constantin, anesthesiologist at La Pitié Salpêtrière, secretary general of the French Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation, draws attention to the exhaustion of the nursing teams.
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“The current problem is a vaccination problem and as long as we are not more vaccinated, we will not get out of it”, alerted Wednesday, December 15 on franceinfo Jean-Michel Constantin, anesthesiologist-resuscitator at La Pitié Salpêtrière, secretary general of the French Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation, while the government estimated that the number of Covid patients hospitalized in intensive care should reach 4,000 “around the holidays”.
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“If we say that there are six million people who are not currently vaccinated in France and if we take the low range, that is to say that two percent of them will do a severe form that will lead them to hospital, we have a reservoir of 300,000 patients who will need to be taken care of “, explains Jean-Michel Constantin. He points out that “all Covid patients” who will be admitted “in the intensive care unit, it will be at the expense of other patients. They are not taking empty places. We cannot do differently”.
“The endangerment of the health system is clearly identified at the present time: 80% of patients in intensive care are unvaccinated patients.”
Jean-Michel Constantinto franceinfo
Despite everything, Jean-Michel Constantin thinks that “The hospital will hold on because the hospital is holding on despite all these difficulties”. But he believes that “the more it goes, the harder it will be”. In this holiday season, “There are non-urgent activities that are canceled so that the teams can take time off. So the plasticity of the system that allowed us to hold on to the first four waves will necessarily be a little less important”. But he notes that “the beginning of this fifth wave is marked by an admission rate in intensive care which is much higher than usual”.
He nevertheless hopes that with “the fear effect” virus, “There is a reduction of pressure on barrier gestures which means that we have a little less serious forms on the part of people at risk in particular. This is the somewhat optimistic side”. He insists all the same on the need to “work on the worst models to avoid being overwhelmed”.
Jean-Michel Constantin finally draws attention to “the teams” of caregivers who “are exhausted”. It seems to him “inconceivable to remove the holidays of the teams”: “They’re not machines. They’ve been at the front for almost two years. If we don’t let them breathe a little, they will be exhausted, they will resign, they will leave, they will stop. , we are entering an area that is going to be complicated. “