Reflections from the frontline, two years on

Since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, nearly 500 million cases have been recorded and more than six million people have died. The impact on clinicians and healthcare workers has been immense. We asked ANZCA fellows Dr Louise Sweet and Dr Bronwyn Webster, and trainee Dr Kirsten Long, how they have coped.

Dr Louise Sweet is an anaesthetist at Sydney’s Liverpool Hospital where she helped lead the introduction of COVID response protocols. She trained as an anaesthetist after a career in nursing in hospitals and aged care.

“As one of a few anaesthetists tasked with creating the original protocols to manage COVID patients, the burden of protecting ourselves and our staff weighed heavily on us in the early days of the pandemic.

There was no precedence, no prior experience, and we were trying to prepare for something we had never seen, but with help from our emergency and ICU colleagues, we set about developing intubation guidelines, PPE and transfer protocols, and our 24-hour onsite anaesthetic VMO-led COVID intubation team that would continue successfully for 10 months.” Dr Sweet says.

Dr Bronwyn Webster is an anaesthetist in full-time private practice in Melbourne. She worked through Melbourne’s six lockdowns as a frontline COVID-19 surge clinician in general and ICU wards at a regional hospital and a metropolitan private hospital.

“My worst moment was in my head – the realisation that things were going to change and that we were about to enter a period of instability and change."

"I think we all fear the unknown and want to cling to the safety of what is familiar. I am in my early 50s and had built a private practice over a long period of time which meant my professional life was predictable and something I felt I could control.

My best moment was realising that such fears are baseless and that it is possible to step away from what you know and experience new, rewarding and challenging things. Taking on different roles as a medical professional over the past two years was such a privilege and empowering experience” says Dr Webster.

Dr Kirsten Long is an anaesthetic registrar who has been treating complex COVID patients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

“Early in the pandemic when little was known about the virus, I was pregnant with twins and had a two-year-old at home. As a higher risk pregnancy, I had to make decisions about what level of risk I was comfortable with."

Dr Long says "avoiding aerosol-generating procedures in anaesthesia is difficult, and I was mindful of not missing volume of practice. PPE at that time was still a hot topic of contention. My supervisors of training were brilliant in checking in often, and we were able to switch up my duties when I felt necessary.”

Read more from Dr Louise Sweet, Dr Bronwyn Webster, and Dr Kirsten Long in the autumn 2022 edition of the ANZCA Bulletin.