[Judith Anne]

A lot of human contact--nice thought, but it's going to be hard. I'm thinking of nurses with small children...hard to be away from your babies...hard to be away from your spouse, and only talk on a phone...

As a nurse, I know how much a touch can mean, sometimes a hug, it's healing and does something good for patients AND the nurse...when a patient has SARS, no skin to skin contact for a good long while...think of it...and how long are we going to be in the patient's room--the guideline is to minimize the amount of time spent in the room...impossible to leave someone when they're weeping, though...especially a fellow nurse...

Just mentioning a few issues with the isolation...

I've worked with isolation techniques on patients a lot of times, it's hard on regular people even just for a few days...much less two weeks or more...

[goldstategop]

Exactly. No wonder recovery from SARS lasts longer for people who've survived the ordeal. Being alone and feeling abandoned and treated like you're going to die hurts even worse than the disease. So it comes as no surprise to see accounts of people taking longer than is normal to resume a normal life.

[Domestic Church]

There needs to be an open intercom system in these SARS rooms. If voice contact is ingoing it might help alleviate some of the isolation stress.

(Remembering a harrowing three day long induced labor in a room without windows.)