'A lot of death around here,' nurse says of working in ICU filled with COVID patients

The recent surge in cases, fueled by the Delta variant of the coronavirus and the state's lagging vaccination rate, has strained hospital resources statewide, especially the health care workers who staff ICUs.

"I think we are in crisis mode," Kat Phillips, a surgical ICU nurse at UNC Medical Center, told WRAL News during an exclusive look inside the unit. "The nurses are feeling it. The hospital is feeling it. Other patients are feeling it."

Eleven COVID-19 patients were in the surgical ICU on Thursday, with another 13 combined in the hospital's medical ICU and pediatric ICU.

"We are definitely caring for some of the sickest patients in the hospital right now," Phillips said. "In the beginning, it was scary. Now, it’s just my normal, everyday job."

Dr. Benny Joyner, chief of pediatric medical care, said three COVID-19 patients were in the PICU, including a 2-week-old infant.

"Kids get sick with COVID," Joyner said. "Kids can have a breathing tube placed into their throat with COVID. Kids can have long-term consequences with COVID. Kids are impacted by COVID."

Compared with earlier waves of infected patients during the pandemic, Phillips said, patients in the ICU are now sicker and younger. Many are on ventilators, heart-lung bypass machines and dialysis to keep their bodies' internal functions going as they fight the virus.

The ICU staff works 12-hour shifts, plus overtime as needed, in an effort to save as many patients as possible. But the majority will die – ICU staffers say that, right now, only 40 percent of COVID-19 patients who go into the surgical ICU survive.

"Just in my past weeks of working, I’ve lost two patients that I cared for," Phillips said. "It’s a lot of death, and it’s the new normal, I think – a lot of death around here."

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"It’s heartbreaking, and a lot of patients are really young, and we just see them going downhill," agreed Dr. Trista Reid, a trauma surgeon working in the ICU. "It’s very, very disheartening. There’s a lot of burnout. A lot of people are getting tired and exhausted."

The medical professionals said their efforts to save these patients' lives would be easier if more people would get vaccinated against coronavirus.

"It’s exhausting and it's frustrating at the same time because we have the vaccine that’s available that can prevent this type of sickness," Phillips said. "Obviously, it’s not going to prevent you from getting the virus, but it can prevent you from getting to this last-ditch effort to save your life."

"My son just turned 12 in August, and his birthday present was a COVID vaccine," Joyner said.