
A trauma physician at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital told CNN the hospital's ICU is beginning to fill up just as they are being told there's a supply shortage to treat coronavirus.
"We are slowly descending into chaos," the physician said. "We keep on drilling and preparing but it’s already taking a toll on our staff. Both emotionally and psychologically."
The trauma physician said the presence of coronavirus created a thick layer of fog they have to operate in as they try and treat patients.
"It’s not like in the ICU," the physician said. "Everybody knows the patient has COVID and has time to don the equipment before going into the room."
Normally they rely on literature, research and training in the trauma center, developed over years of study and practice. But the physician says they are "flying blind" in a storm without instruments right now.
"With COVID and trauma there is nothing," the physician said. "So, we had to build guidelines from the ground up in record time and start training our teams on those guidelines not really knowing if they are best practices or not."
Jackson Memorial Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in the US with 1,550 licensed beds. It's the biggest hospital in the state of Florida and holds the Ryder Trauma Center, Miami-Dade County's only adult and pediatric Level 1 trauma center.