Vincent (second from right) with fellow health-care providers outside the Mississauga Hospital
COVID-19 cases are surging, particularly in the GTA, and hospitals are busier than ever before providing care to Ontarians. Health-care providers are being pushed to the limits as the pandemic wears on past the one-year milestone.
Vincent Vuong, Rx2017, is one of those health-care providers. Last year when the School of Pharmacy spoke to Vincent, he was supporting the general medicine floor in the Credit Valley Hospital. Since then, he’s joined another Trillium Health Partners location – the Mississauga Hospital – where he supports the Comprehensive Stroke Unit.
“It’s been a year of constant learning,” he says. “I’ve become adept at maintaining positivity, staying vigilant and constantly adapting to new best practices for infection prevention and control.”
In the stroke unit, Vincent’s responsible for reviewing prescribed medications, guiding dosing, monitoring for high-risk medications and counselling on new medications. Supporting medication adherence for patients after they’ve had a stroke is also key.
“While COVID is impacting the hospital, we’ve seen many downstream challenges in the other units that have to continue providing health-care for non-COVID situations,” he says. “On the stroke ward, many patients need close one-on-one care as they can have difficulty swallowing, walking or caring for themselves after a stroke.”Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have adopted new practices, which include interviewing patients over the phone where possible, to minimize unnecessary close contact. This has been a whole-team effort, with nurses and other health professionals, thoroughly documenting patient information in the EMR system, ensuring all practitioners can make informed decisions. For pharmacists, this documentation helps guide dosing of medications like Warfarin.
“Another challenge is the strain that’s put on family members and friends,” he says. “The policies on visiting are constantly changing, and it’s not always possible for visitors to be in the hospital to support their loved ones.”
Evolving policies have been the reality in hospitals across Ontario as the pandemic rages on. Teams work hard to stay adaptable and ensure that everyone contributes to creating as safe a work environment as possible.
Vincent’s team is no exception, and the arrival of COVID-19 vaccinations in hospitals has helped to inject some hope in his stressful work environment.
“Receiving the vaccine was a painless experience,” he says. “I had some minor fatigue after my second shot, but it went away the following day. And ultimately, I’d much prefer the side effects of the vaccine to the potential short-term and long-term effects of COVID-19.”