Eye-Opening Photos Show Coronavirus Doctors And Nurses On 12-Hour Night ICU Shift

Photos from inside of an intensive care unit (ICU) where doctors and nurses are battling to keep Covid-19 patients alive underscores the horrors of the disease.



Photographer Christopher Bobyn was granted access to the unit at Hairmyres hospital in East Kilbride, Scotland for Nine, BBC News Scotland.
He followed the medics for a typical 12-hour night-shift treating Covid-19 patients.

To cope with a more than doubling of demand, the ICU has been expanded from one unit to two Covid wards and two ICU areas for Covid patients.


The photos show doctors dressed in extensive and cumbersome looking personal protective equipment.

Dr Austin Rattray leads the overnight ICU team of 30 nursing staff and clinical support workers


Dr Rattray directs a team of six nurses to help him "prone" a patient whose oxygen levels suddenly dropped dangerously low​

Some have their names written on the top of their face masks, for easy communication in a ward where many of the staff have been hastily retrained and brought in from other departments.

The ICU's team of 30 nursing staff and clinical support workers is led by Dr Austin Rattray.

Covid-19 patient Lynn Plunkett is now recovering after time spent in the ICU.

The ICU has expanded to cope with the much greater than normal demand ​

She said: "The doctor asked me if I should be resuscitated if needed. I said 'you keep me alive no matter what'.

"I have my first grandson being born in two weeks and I need to meet him. You keep me alive no matter what."

Some members of the team wrote their names on their PPE​

A patient's X-ray is examined for fluid, to help decide if they can be taken off a respirator ​

Source