Responding to the stress
Responding to the stress and the strain of COVID-19 in the UK – Mastering Intensive Care 067 with Rupert Pearse
In this episode the focus is on our Intensive Care friends in the UK and what they are going through right now with COVID-19.
My guest is Rupert Pearse, a Professor and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at Barts Health NHS Trust and Queen Mary University of London. He works at the Royal London Hospital, which was at the epicentre of the first wave and now the second COVID wave in East London. Rupert’s recent work on Twitter through public health messaging has been outstanding and you can follow him @Rupert_Pearse.
Despite being terribly busy in London, Rupert willingly gave his time to talk about:
- How the cases of COVID-19 are tracking right now
- How the logistical challenge is being gradually replaced by important reflection
- What the Royal London Hospital ICU did to deal with the surge
- The ongoing research they’ve been doing during the pandemic
- Why the Nightingale hospitals of the first wave seemed to struggle
- The stress and strain associated with diluting the nurse to patient ratio
- The difficulty with blending leadership structures during an intense period
- How they have maintained their ICU culture
- The struggle of his colleagues caring for themselves as healthcare professionals
- His advice to less affected areas of the world
- Why he changed his approach to delivering public health messages for the second wave
- The principles he follows when speaking to the media
- How he describes this period of his career.
Links related to Rupert Pearse
Links to other resources (in order of mentioning)
Further reading and listening
- Full podcast collection on LITFL and Libsyn
- The New Normal Project podcast
- More conversation on Twitter (@andrewdavies66) and Facebook
- Audio Producer: Chris Burke of Burke Sound & Media
Mastering Intensive Care
Dr Andrew Davies MBBS FRACP FCIC. Intensivist/researcher at Frankston Hospital, Melbourne. Aiming to bring my best self to work & life. | Mastering Intensive Care | New Normal project |