Have you heard The Kinked Wire? In each monthly episode, host Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR, brings you clinical opportunities, practice management tips and more—in a convenient audio format. In the April episode (recorded on March 30), Seattle-based IR R. Torrance Andrews, MD, FSIR, describes the COVID-19 experience in Washington, managing IR patients in the midst of a global pandemic and more. The following is a brief excerpt of the conversation.
Warren Krackov, MD, FSIR: Going back a little bit, you were really at ground zero, as it were. Seattle was the first place where there were cases and things really took off. What was it like there?
R. Torrance Andrews, MD, FSIR: The first cluster of cases was at a nursing home about 20 miles from my house. There was a report that several people had been sick and transported to hospitals and then, the next thing we heard, all of the ambulance crews and firemen who had been involved in the transfer were in quarantine. It really seemed kind of crazy. And then of course things really started to take off, and it started to sink in that we were dealing with something major.
WK: Is it fair to say you’ve seen your fair share of COVID-19 patients, by now?
TA: As a system we have. I don’t think we’re seeing nearly as many of those patients as our colleagues in the ICU and ER.
WK: I think that’s a great point—there’s nothing particular about this horrible illness that would lend itself to IRs providing assistance that would be somehow unique.
TA: I think there was a lot of thought at the beginning that we would be dealing with pleural effusions and empyemas, but it hasn’t come into being.
WK: Are you getting any sense at all in Seattle that things are slowing down?
TA: We’re probably a month ahead of most of the rest of the country. I think the rate of disease progression has slowed way down. Our doubling time 2 weeks ago was about 2.5 days, and it’s now closer to 6 days. The hospital where I work and the system to which it is connected is continuing to develop resources and make space available for ICU patients, etc. But the predictions that we’re seeing now all suggest that we won’t get anywhere near the point where we need to use all those facilities and resources.
Hear the full discussion, as well as other regional IR perspectives on COVID-19 at sirweb.org/kinkedwire.
April 20: R. Torrance Andrews, MD, FSIR (Seattle)
April 29: Raj Shah, MD, FSIR (Palo Alto, Calif.)
May 8: George Behrens, MD (Chicago)
