HORSENS / KØBENHAVN / VÆRLØSE (Dagbladet): At worst, more than 900 covid-19 patients were hospitalized in Denmark last winter. Now the country is facing a new and potentially demanding winter.
However, Ulf Hørlyk, chief physician at the emergency department at the Horsens Regional Hospital, is not most concerned about whether they will have the capacity to treat covid-19 patients this winter.
– The biggest problem with corona at the moment is not corona itself – there are the other consequences: Sick leave among employees, elective surgery that is postponed and chronic diseases that slowly worsen. The big problem arises when we can not maintain normal operation, as I see it.
view more
–
Demanding work
Hørlyk receives Dagbladet at its office in Horsens in Denmark. The entrance area is decorated with gold-colored strips and some office supplies are wrapped in gift wrap. On one of the gift papers it is written: “Every working day with us is a gift”.
It is almost like a good party to be with colleagues, Hørlyk thinks. But the job is also tough. Recently, he has seen colleagues cry at work. Adults.
– It’s hard. It’s incredibly hard, he says.
– Has it become more difficult during the pandemic?
– It is difficult to distinguish between what is due to one and the other. There is no doubt that the pandemic has made it more difficult, but paradoxically, we actually had a better time when the hospital was on standby. During the second wave of infections and until May, we actually had fewer patients than usual. But for the last six months, we have set a record every single month. It has never been so busy before.
“I do not think the spread of omikron can be stopped, but I think it can be delayed”
Troels Lillebæk, department director at the Statens Serum Institut
Omikron
One of the biggest risk factors this winter is the omicron variant. Department director Troels Lillebæk at the Statens Serum Institut, the National Institute of Public Health’s sister institute in Denmark, has closely followed how the number of omicron cases has doubled every other day. He does not think the virus variant can be stopped.
– No, I do not think that the spread of omicron can be stopped, but I think it can be delayed. The biggest problem arises if you get many positive cases at the same time, because then you can end up in a situation where the health service is overloaded, says Lillebæk to Dagbladet.
– But if, on the other hand, you manage to spread the cases of infection over a longer period of time, you get the opportunity to vaccinate more people and protect the vulnerable people in society.
Lillebæk adds:
– If many are infected at the same time, there is also a risk that many hospital employees and health personnel will be sent into isolation, and there must also be someone present to take care of those who are admitted to hospitals.
Verste fall-scenario
The department director says that it is difficult to predict how the spread of omicron will affect the health service this winter, but points out that measures have been implemented that will hopefully help to delay the spread of infection.
– We have calculated what will happen if you do nothing at all, and just let the pandemic develop freely. Our models show that you will then get about 500 daily covid-19 admissions at the end of December. In that case, it will impose an enormous burden on the health service, says Lillebæk and continues:
– But this is a “worst case” scenario that shows what will happen if you do nothing to prevent it. I consider it unlikely that we will get there as we are doing a lot to prevent such a situation.
RECEPTION: Here the hospital received covid-19 patients during the second wave. Photo: Kristian Ridder-Nielsen / Dagbladet
view more
Capacity
Back at the Horsens Regional Hospital, the chief physician Hørlyk has begun an introduction to emergency medicine. Emergency physicians are people who specialize in receiving patients who need immediate help, he says and puts the mark on the flipchart, and the emergency physicians’ tasks are to see, assess, stabilize and diagnose.
At the emergency department in Horsens, about 65 percent of the patients are completed, according to Hørlyk. He estimates that over 300 covid-19 patients have been treated at the emergency department through the pandemic. In addition, he estimates that close to 300 patients have received treatment in the pulmonary medicine department, while 42 patients have ended up in the intensive care unit.
Hørlyk says that he is completely calm now compared to during the second wave. Both due to good vaccine coverage and good contingency plans.
– We now have solid contingency plans, which run throughout the hospital, and which we have recently revised. We have very specific plans for what we will do if the pulmonary medicine department is filled up, and if the intensive care unit is filled up. In addition, we are one of five emergency hospitals in the Central Jutland region, where we work well together and can relocate patients if needed, says Hørlyk.
– I do not think that it is our intensive care unit that risks getting problems, but the pulmonary medicine department. This is due to all the patients being admitted who do not need intensive care.
view more
–
Gave out book
The department head has been in it since the start of the pandemic, as he describes in the book «Akutlægens dagbog – What I learned about myself while trying to save others ».
– What was the reason why you chose to write a book?
– It was that I had never written a book before. Ha-ha-ha.
Hørlyk says that it started when they were waiting for the first wave of infection to hit. Restlessly, he began writing short stories about the individuals who worked as doctors, nurses and service workers, which he published on the online community LinkedIn. It turned out that there was enormous interest in the stories, he says, and then a publisher called.
– I wrote the book both to document a time that we had never experienced before, and to give an insight into why I chose to become a doctor and what it is like to work like that.
Work and family life
In the book, he writes about balancing work and family life, which Hørlyk admits can be demanding.
– I see my family far too rarely because I work a lot. At the same time, my job is fantastic, I love it, it’s like playing in a dramatic movie every single day.
Hørlyk says that during the first wave he was at work for 13 days in a row. He says he slept in the office and kept an infection-friendly distance when he met his family during this period.
– It was a super special experience. Also for the family. Some repair work has been done. It’s been tremendously hard.
– But it… It… It has given room for reflection: How far should one go to fulfill one’s social responsibility? If you have a job where you feel you are performing an important task, whether you are a doctor, nurse, policeman, firefighter or journalist: How far can you go before sacrificing something on the home front? My experience today indicates that one should be very careful there.
“The big question is, ‘Which comes first: Omicron or third dose?'”
Lone Simonsen, professor at Roskilde University
«Gamechanger»
Since Denmark reopened the country in September, Professor Lone Simonsen at Roskilde University has thought that the country would get through the rest of the pandemic without further shutdowns. But then came the omikron variant.
– Omikron, which is the first widespread escape variant, is a game changer. Therefore, we now have to become better acquainted with the virus variant to understand what threat it entails, says Simonsen to Dagbladet, who is also head of the research center PandemiX Center at the university.
– We know that two doses of vaccine protect something against serious covid-19 disease, and then we know that three doses protect very well. All the measures that have been introduced in Denmark will help, especially the rapid roll-out of the third dose. But the question is whether it is enough to curb the spread of infection.
Third dose
All Danes over the age of 40 will be offered a third dose by New Year, which is equivalent to 3.5 million people.
– This will give us better control over the epidemic as the third dose makes it less likely that you will be infected and continue to be infected. At the same time, it will make the probability of being admitted much smaller. The big question is: “Which comes first: Omicron or third dose?”
Simonsen says that there is a nursing crisis in Denmark.
– Thus, we have little capacity in the hospitals, even though we do not really have that many covid-19 patients compared to other countries. The capacity problem is not just due to the corona pandemic. Experts are also very concerned about whether we will have a demanding flu season in addition to the corona pandemic, which will lead to even more hospitalizations.
– LIKE A GOOD PARTY: Hørlyk says that it can almost be like a good party to work with colleagues at the hospital. Photo: Kristian Ridder-Nielsen / Dagbladet
view more
– Worries me all the time
Hørlyk at the Horsens Regional Hospital also mentions a shortage of nurses, but says that they are still able to handle it.
– I worry all the time that the doctors and nurses will be burned out – that they will run out and can no longer endure. They are whipped incredibly hard, says Hørlyk, and is reminded by Dagbladet that his colleagues have written “Every working day with us is a gift” in his office.
– Yes, it’s mysterious. Ha-ha-ha. It’s mysterious. They are a wonderful bunch. When we are here together, it can almost be like a good party. I work with some wonderful people. You can almost feel hungover when you go home after work because it is so intense and demanding. But when you get to work again, the party starts again.
– The problem is that we must also have energy left over for our wives, husbands and children. So it’s about how to balance it.
– To what extent do you manage to balance work and private life today?
– It’s better now, but it’s difficult. My wife and I talk about how difficult it is to make ends meet. But I have an incredibly sweet wife, and it’s a miracle that we’re still together after 25 years. She must be the most patient person in the world.
–
