With a 30-year career under her belt as an accomplished head nurse and a veteran of the 2003 SARS outbreak, Wang Yuying once again found herself donning protective gear for a mission to fight COVID-19 in Wuhan, Li Yingxue reports.

When Wang Yuying arrived in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on the night of February 1, it was only seven hours after she received the call that she had been assigned to help at the epicenter of the novel coronavirus.

She said yes to the call immediately and took just minutes to pack.

"I packed a small suitcase with three changes of clothes, and enough drugs to last me a month and a half for my hypertension, as well as sleeping pills and migraine medication," the 59-year-old head nurse recalls.

She didn't know how long she would be deployed to the virus-stricken city, so she estimated the amount based on her experience of fighting SARS 17 years ago-she worked for one month solidly before being relieved.

Wang was one of the 135 medical workers dispatched in three groups by Peking University First Hospital to help treat seriously ill COVID-19 patients at Tongji Hospital's Zhongfa Xincheng branch in Wuhan during the height of the outbreak.

The day after arriving, Wang started to take care of the patients. Four days later, she was assigned as the head nurse of the medical team from Peking University First Hospital, and their team was asked to start taking patients independently within two days.

"We have 102 nurses and 50 beds, and not only did we need to get the facilities in the special wards ready, which were transformed from regular wards, but we also had to train all medical workers on how to use the protective clothing," Wang says.

"The ventilators in our wards were all donated, so they were a mix of different brands and types, so we all needed to get familiar with using each one of them."

According to Wang, her team of nurses were all under 40 years of age with at least three years' experience, and they have all worked night shifts and rotated at the ICU before.

"The medical protective equipment was limited then, and the work was heavy and intensive, and many of the patients needed to be put on ventilators, so we required young but experienced nurses," Wang explains.

She organized the nurses into several multidisciplinary teams-in each shift, there were nurses familiar with intensive care, cardiology, neurology and infectious disease.

In the first few days, Wang noticed some of the nurses were nervous or worried about entering the wards.

"They would stop to look in the mirror several times before they would go in," Wang recalls.

To reassure the nurses, she offered to examine all of the nurses' protective gear every single time they entered the ward. Only if she said yes could they proceed.

"They are like my children, and I have the responsibility to ensure their safety. I would also tell them to be careful and double check when taking off the garments," she says.

Wang's eagle eye was not just reserved for her staff. She noticed the signs of worry in the patients, too. She would talk to them gently and comfort them.

"Some patients would just say a single sentence to you before staring intently at the monitor displaying their oxygen saturation, through which you could tell that they were nervous," she explains. "We would always call the elderly patients grandma or grandpa to create a bond with them."

Wang thinks compassionate care and psychological nursing also played an important role in treating the COVID-19 patients.

She remembered a patient in his 70s refused to say where he felt discomfort. He just kept repeating: "I want to be discharged and go home".

The patient didn't have a phone with him since he only had a landline. And he couldn't remember any of his family members' numbers.

Wang asked the nurses on duty to dial the number every day. It took a few days, but eventually, somebody picked up. It turned out that the patient's wife had just returned from a two-week quarantine.

"I remember that he cried when he heard the voice of his wife, and he finally smiled. As his mood became better, he started to respond positively to the treatment and was soon discharged," Wang says.

Wang Xiaoyue, a 36-year-old cardiac-surgery nurse on Wang Yuying's team, says the head nurse is strict at work but amiable outside of the wards.

"She remembers the birthdays of all 100 nurses and she would surprise them with a cake or a letter from family," Wang Xiaoyue says.

Wang Xiaoyue says Wang Yuying is so observant that she could tell if a nurse was homesick from a mere facial expression or mention of a favorite food.

"She is so strict at work, and she asks us to monitor every detail of every patient's condition," Wang Xiaoyue says. "She would keep asking questions about the patients-why a certain thing might have happened or what a certain phenomenon reflects in their condition-and we would need to be quite familiar with our patients to be able to answer all her questions."

Li Haichao, vice-president of Peking University First Hospital, who was also a front-line doctor with the team in Wuhan, believes the nurses did an incredible job.

"Their work in the wards was quite heavy. As well as nursing, they also had to perform life care, and none of our patients got pressure sores," he says.

On April 4, the team finished their last day of work in Wuhan. Of all 115 patients they received, 100 of them were discharged and eight were transferred to other hospitals. Not one medical worker became infected.

Wang Yuying remembers the warmth of the Wuhan people, from the notes written on their takeaway meals to the volunteer drivers who picked them up and dropped them off every shift.

"The windows of the residential building in front of our hotel were always closed. But on the day when we left, many of them were open and the people living inside looked out and said thanks," she recalls.

With 36 years' experience as a nurse in the thoracic surgery department, Wang Yuying asks all the nurses in her department to learn how to read chest radiography and also how to perform auscultation-the action of listening to sounds from the heart, lungs or other organs with a stethoscope.

"The relationship between doctors and nurses should be complimentary," she says.

Besides continuously learning postoperative care as the medical technology develops, Wang Yuying also asks her nurses to be innovative when taking care of the patients.

A dozen years ago, she developed a recipe for a nutrient solution to help esophagus cancer patients recover faster which is still used today. She asked advice from a nutritionist when she was creating the recipe and made it as affordable as possible so it won't be a financial burden on the patient.

"I always like to think about how I can help the patients recover as quickly as possible," she says.

In her wards, patients usually only stay three to four days after surgery before they are discharged.

"People may think nursing is a repetitive job, but I always tell my nurses to find the difference in each patient we take care of and explore how we can do better. That is the meaning of being a nurse," she says.

Wang Yuying has been a head nurse for three decades and is one year away from retirement. For her, the experience in Wuhan was also a chance to find and train those who will follow in her footsteps, the future head nurses.

Wang Xiaoyue still remembers the exacting standard Wang Yuying requires from her nurses. "Should you get hospitalized one day, if the nurse taking care of you is one you trained, you are in good hands," Wang Xiaoyue says.

(Source: China Daily)