The past eight months have left many COVID-19 questions unanswered. Earlier this summer, there was even more confusion about the virus’s long-term impact on the organs. To monitor those long-term health effects, Drs. Chintan Ramani and Alexandra Kadl on June 2 opened up a post-release clinic for patients discharged from U.Va. Medical Center’s COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.
“For the ICU patients, we typically follow up with them about six weeks afterwards and assess their pulmonary health as well as their mental health,” Kadl, an assistant professor for medicine and pharmacology, said. “We have some screening forms for PTSD, for depression, for insomnia 一 for the cognitive function they do a [Montreal Cognitive Assessment] test to evaluate any issues there.” So far, Kadl and Ramani said that their patients have been in relatively good health at the six week check-up. On July 30, Ramani published their initial findings in the medical journal Chest and reported that, of their 102 patients admitted to the ICU — all of whom were admitted for being “very sick” according to Kadl — 22 died, 21 remained hospitalized and 59 were discharged alive. Kadl also said that although their patients’ respiratory systems were more affected than their cognitive function, their lung health was still generally improved at the initial checkups. As of Wednesday at 1:58 p.m., there were 20 inpatients at U.Va. Health confirmed with COVID-19 — nine of whom were in the Intensive Care Special Pathogens Unit and an additional nine in the Acute Care Special Pathogens Unit — according to an update sent to U.Va. Health employees obtained by The Cavalier Daily. 10 inpatients confirmed with COVID-19 were also being treated on ventilators at U.Va. Health. Although recent numbers in the ICU have been low, Ramani is confident that it, along with the post-discharge clinic, are prepared to handle an increase in patient load. Read more from The Cavalier Daily HERE.
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The Cavalier Daily The Daily Progress
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