– If you shut down the ventilator capacity in Kirkenes, it will be negative for the entire region of Troms and Finnmark. That’s what Shirin Frisvold says. She is an anesthesiologist at the intensive care unit at the University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN) in Tromsø. She believes that people benefit greatly from the ventilator service in Eastern Finnmark. Critically ill patients who do not require an intensive care unit at a university hospital can be treated there. If the offer disappears, it will put pressure on the department in Tromsø, she believes. – We have no buffer to treat patients in intensive care who do not require university hospital space. – What are the consequences for the department if you have to accept patients from Kirkenes Hospital? – There will be a greater risk of poor capacity to help other patients who had demanded the place, she says. Shirin FrisvoldPhoto: Shirin Frisvold Shirin Frisvold Photo: Shirin Frisvold In March, Helse Nord will decide whether money will still be set aside to keep the intensive care unit at level 2. Without this level, the ventilator supply could be history at Kirkenes hospital. To be investigated It will be a longer journey for patients who require a ventilator if the provision in Eastern Finnmark is cut. The nearest Norwegian hospital with similar health services is almost 500 kilometers away – in Hammerfest. UNN is almost 800 kilometers away. The intensive care unit in Hammerfest is normally staffed to look after one ventilator patient, in addition to other intensive care patients around the clock. This is what Eirik Palm, head of communications at Finnmarkssykehuset HF, says. – How will it affect the capacity at Hammerfest hospital if there are cuts in Kirkenes? – If Kirkenes Hospital is only to stabilize and send on all seriously ill intensive care patients, this will result in increased patient admissions to the intensive care unit at Hammerfest Hospital, as well as increased strain on the air ambulance service. MORE PATIENTS: Eirik Palm at Finnmark Hospital says that with a simple distribution of staff, the department in Hammerfest can take care of two or three ventilator patients over time, in addition to other intensive care patients. Photo: Andre Bendixen / news – How and to what extent it will affect the intensive care capacity at the hospital in Vest-Finnmark is among the questions that will be investigated by the board, says Palm. – Too unstable to withstand transfer Hilde Wara is an anesthetist at Kirkenes Hospital. She is critical of cuts and the risk of long journeys. – Weather, long distances, limited transport capacity and full intensive care units in collaborating hospitals will sometimes delay or prevent transfer to another hospital. Several of the patients will also be too unstable to tolerate transfer. Then the treatment must take place locally, says Wara. SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES: – If Eastern Finnmark cannot offer ventilator and intensive care locally, then this will also affect the possibility of emergency surgery, trauma function and maternity services, says Hilde Wara at Kirkenes hospital Photo: André Bendixen / news She also says that Hammerfest will often be unavailable due to weather and unfavorable geographical location. According to Frisvold, a larger group of patients needs less time on a ventilator. She believes it is an unnecessary burden to transport these patients to get the treatment they need. – Is it the case that you fly patients, far away from home and family, to a university hospital, when they did not need it? she asks rhetorically. She believes it is necessary to preserve intensive care units that are located great distances apart. The local healthcare staff can then treat patients to a certain level. Overview of ventilator preparedness in the north. Transporting patients in bad weather involves risk and requires resources, says Frisvold. – There is a large apparatus of specially trained personnel that must be brought together to provide safe transport, as it takes a lot of time and resources to transport patients.
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– Greater risk of poor capacity – news Troms and Finnmark
