A Nurse’s Pandemic Story
Comment: I started writing this series of blogs a couple weeks ago. Ironically, 15,000+ nurse in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) area voted to strike this week. Read “Jenna’s” story, one nurse out of thousands, who served us during the pandemic.
Zip back in your mind to mid-2020. It was no secret hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities were plunged into a sudden and unexpected crisis. But few of us can truly appreciate the toll it took on healthcare workers, and how the effects linger today.
A primary effect of the pandemic on healthcare workers was the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”). Examples of PPE includes:
- Masks and face shields
- Respirators
- Gloves
- Full-body suits
- Helmets
- Goggles
“Jenna” (not her real name) is a critical care nurse in a major medical center in the U.S. Jenna thought she had seen everything in her years of nursing, but nothing could have prepared her for the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is an example of a day in her life during the pandemic.
It was early morning of her third 12-hour shift. Glancing at her list, her first patient was a middle-aged man we’ll call Mr. H, whom she had come to know well. The unit had converted a family room into a storage room. Jenna grabbed her zip lock bag and put on her first isolation gown, the N-95 mask, face shield and gloves. She noticed that although her N-95 had been sterilized overnight, it was sagging from use and re-use.
“Where was the medication for Mr. H?” she mused. Due to pharmacy-related staff shortages, it had not arrived on time. Jenna knew she would have to leave the room and come back when it arrived. “Good morning, Mr. H,” she greeted him with a smile, even though he had been intubated now for two months, his body wasting away, his mind deep in the depths of sedation. Would this be the day she’d hold up the iPad monitor while family on the other end said goodbye? Mr. H was a husband, a dad, a son. Those goodbyes never became easier.
After her assessment Janna took off her isolation gown, placed the N-95 in the take-out container, and wiped down the eyewear as she left the room. The medication had arrived, so she re-dressed and headed back into the room. She would do this over and over throughout her 12-hour shift, and it would continue for months.
Imagine not only the fear of the respiratory disease killing thousands, but the inability to protect oneself.
Then imagine being on your feet for 12 hours, barely able to breath in the confining masks. And you come back the next day and do it again, and again, and again.
This continued on and on. In December 2020, the New York times reported there was still a shortage of PPE. PPE Shortages Add to this the endless, exhausting shifts, and an ever-increasing shortage of workers.
Fast forward to 2022. Jenna, and nurses like her, anticipated an improvement in patient care. Perhaps staffing and equipment would go back to pre-Covid-19 levels? Indeed, PPE is more readily available and there are less critical care patients due to COVID. But when Jenna looks around, she estimates roughly 40% of her experienced colleagues have left. Constantly asked to work extra shifts, her workload leads to numbing exhaustion. Nurses like Jenna, in her 60s, think every day about early retirement.
I look at Jenna, there is a new sadness in her eyes. She is angry about the people who would not get vaccinated, and ended up in her critical care unit. She is frustrated by the on-going staffing crisis and allocation of resources. I asked her if she has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (“PTSD”), she replied “I’m sure I do.”
In March 2022, global analyst Walter Kluwer reported, “What nurse leaders should know about PTSD in nurses during COVID-19…over 1/3rd of nurses reported PTSD syndrome signs.
“Two years later, nurses and healthcare workers continue to face tremendous pressure and stress to effectively treat patients diagnosed with the virus, resulting in increased rates of mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among frontline healthcare workers.” Walter Kluwer
Could you blame Jenna, and many other nurses like her, if they left their job? What is the mental health of our nursing staff worth?
Sadly, this crisis is not just nurses; there is a shortage of physicians, pathologists, neurologists, radiologists, and psychiatrists. Add to this a reduced number of lower wage healthcare workers, medical assistants, home health aides and nursing assistants.
Are you like me, and wondering what is going on with our nurses and other healthcare workers? This is just a glimpse of what plagues them, 2-1/2 years after the pandemic began.
In future blogs we’ll take a deeper dive into the healthcare crisis, and seek positive solutions.