CoronaVirus Update with Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser from the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center

Craft: Exploring Creativity

I don’t normally post the transcript of my interviews, but this episode makes sense to have it available.

Doug Dangler
From a secret location in room 100 of 540 jack Gibbs Boulevard, this is Craft. I’m your host Doug Dangler. Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, chief quality and patient safety officer for the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, has been dealing extensively with the corona virus outbreak. Welcome to craft Dr. Gonsenhauser.

Iahn Gonsenhauser
Doug, thanks for having me. I’m really happy to be here to answer questions.

Doug Dangler
So what is the latest news on this virus that seems to be changing every day?

Iahn Gonsenhauser
Yeah, the news really changes on a day to day basis, even an hour to hour basis. I mean, we are constantly keeping tabs on what’s coming from the state level as well as just federally what’s changing. You know, the biggest news is the dramatic increase in the number of cases, which we’ve expected. There’s nothing that’s really jumping out and shocking us at this point. But certainly just keeping an eye on that rapid rise and really paying close attention to see if the measures that we’re taking right now we’re going to have that impact of flattening the

Doug Dangler
We’ve recently gone into as of yesterday, the stay at home order. I think that these things lag by a week or two, before you start seeing impact on it. Is that what you’re looking for in the future?

Iahn Gonsenhauser
Yeah, absolutely. So it’s really important for everybody listening and everybody that’s a part of this, to keep in mind that there’s a lag in testing results as they come back from the external agencies that we use the labs that we use to send these tests and get the results back from. They are so swamped with these tests that they’re running, you know, five to seven days behind. So this week, we’re going to start getting the results from all the testing that we did last week. You know, while we just are starting to stay at home order now, right after we’ve started that we’re going to probably see a big bump in cases. It doesn’t mean that stay at home is not working. It’s really just that lag of testing that’s now correlating with the stay at home order at the same time.

Doug Dangler
But you know, one of my friends is in the medical profession. How concerned are the people in the medical profession about themselves? They always seemed very selfless to me ,and you’re on the front lines. What sort of worries Have you heard?

Iahn Gonsenhauser
Yeah, I think we do a good job of internalizing and keeping private, just how anxious we all are. Certainly everybody that’s working at the front line–the the nurses, the physicians, the other providers and pharmacists, etc.–they’re all worried, right? They’re all concerned about their own exposure. Now, they’re paying attention to a lot of the data and a lot of literature that’s coming out of other countries that are a bit further along in this than we are. And what we’re finding is that the measures to keep healthcare workers protected seem to be working. We don’t see a very high proportion of healthcare workers that are actually becoming affected or infected by the virus. And so that’s really promising, but it doesn’t take away that concern.

Doug Dangler
You mentioned the testing. How does it look for the availability of testing in the state of Ohio or in Columbus? Are there more kits coming in?

Iahn Gonsenhauser
Yeah, I think in the face of national testing, shortages, and really lack of support or help that has made a big impact from from the federal government, we have kind of taken matters into our own hands. We’re really lucky here in central Ohio to have such a powerhouse of an organization as Ohio State University. There are so many resources, so many talents, so much intellect in this organization that we’ve managed to figure out how to manufacture our own test kits.

Doug Dangler
Oh, wow.

Iahn Gonsenhauser
We have availability to test as we need to now and the state of Ohio is actually in pretty good shape when it comes to testing availability because of similar efforts at the Cleveland Clinic as well as University of Cincinnati.

Doug Dangler
Well, that’s great news. I’m very pleased to hear that. I know early there was some advice about not using ibuprofen, for example, and then that seemed to change and then a nurse friend of mine said no, go back to acetaminophen if you have any symptoms. Don’t use ibuprofen. How is that being handled? And are there other things like that?

Iahn Gonsenhauser
Yeah. So the the ibuprofen issue came up from a single study that was an observational paper that was posted and published in The Lancet, I believe. If I’m remembering correctly, it was a French physician or lab that published, there may be some interaction of an enzyme in our body that’s impacted by ibuprofen that could potentially make the viral syndrome associated with Covid19. Worse, that has since been retracted. The World Health Organization and the CDC made initial statements based on the publication of that paper but they’ve retracted those statements as well. So as of right now, there’s no indication that ibuprofen is unsafe when it comes to Covid-19

Doug Dangler
Dr. Ian Gunson Hauser right. Thank you very much for talking to me today.

Iahn Gonsenhauser
Thanks so much for having me. I always enjoy the show.

Doug Dangler
For more information from my guests, visit www.crafttheshow.com. This is Doug Dangler. Until next time, be creative and don’t forget to donate at WCBE.org during the fund drive