3.27.20
Status post day 3 of my work week. I’m off for five days. I was actually supposed to be in Egypt on a medical mission right now! Our group was going to volunteer at a new hospital in an impoverished community a few hours outside of Cairo. I had prepared a power point on teamwork and nursing ethics, which I was supposed to present in front of Egyptian nurses. I was even going to incorporate a quick, team building exercise! I was super looking forward to that. We were going to spend a few days in Turkey after Egypt, too! I had plans to meet up with a friend I met on social media in Istanbul. I was so excited to see theses parts of the world that I haven’t been to before!
Instead, we’re in the middle of a pandemic. And, work has been really busy. First of all, our patients have just been really sick the past few months. Secondly, remember how I mentioned getting covid patients on my unit and how my manager basically said that our unit was “an exception,” and I laughed because I knew it wasn’t true? Welllllll...
I have worked my three, twelve hour shifts this week and each time I’ve been at the hospital, there’s been at least one patient who tests positive for covid. Every day we anxiously await test results, while the patient’s roommate (who can be there for reasons entirely different than covid rule out- a covid rule out doesn’t require isolation, according to my manager), watches us suspiciously as we walk past their bed with our face shields to treat their covid positive roomie (you know you’re officially a covid nurse when you are granted your own very face shield and N95 respirator). I swabbed one of my patients the other day. Wearing a face shield will definitely take some getting used to.
Our unit, where we were known as an exception less than a week ago, will be the next to convert into a covid unit. We’ll try to discharge as many patients home as we can, while those not medically stable enough will get transferred to another hospital. My workplace is one of the many hospitals in the area that are rapidly turning into covid centers. Today, I saw that they are beginning to tape off areas of the lobby, so we can utilize these as treatment areas as well. There is rumor that they’ll even start using the seating area in our cafeteria. Governor Cuomo ordered all hospitals to increase capacity by 50-100%, so we’re literally converting every spot we can into patient care areas. I’m glad that we’re creating more beds, but I worry about where the staff, equipment, and supplies will come from. I have tried to look at it from another angle in hopes of finding some positivity with all of this, but I just don’t have any optimism right now.
Sad, but true. I am scared for what is about to come. Because of my choice of profession, I experience both the blessing and curse in playing more of an active role in this whole pandemic. I know, firsthand, the lack of supplies, PPE, ventilators, nurses, doctors, beds, medications, testing solutions, viral swabs that we’re about to get ourselves into (or not get into, rather). I see the emotional and physical burnout, distress, and illness within our front line providers. Every day is something different. In a way, I kind of just want it to get to its lowest point, because after that, the only direction we can go is up. And I’m really looking forward to better days, where I can once again lay on a tranquil, gorgeous beach and watch the sunrise (I’m thinking about you, Brazil!) or hop on a train to go all over Europe. Heck, with all the scheduled vacations I’ll have to cancel due to covid, I’ll end up having to take five weeks in a row at the end of the year or something. Sooo.. I was thinking of doing India / Nepal / Sri Lanka?!?
Instead, we’re in the middle of a pandemic. And, work has been really busy. First of all, our patients have just been really sick the past few months. Secondly, remember how I mentioned getting covid patients on my unit and how my manager basically said that our unit was “an exception,” and I laughed because I knew it wasn’t true? Welllllll...
I have worked my three, twelve hour shifts this week and each time I’ve been at the hospital, there’s been at least one patient who tests positive for covid. Every day we anxiously await test results, while the patient’s roommate (who can be there for reasons entirely different than covid rule out- a covid rule out doesn’t require isolation, according to my manager), watches us suspiciously as we walk past their bed with our face shields to treat their covid positive roomie (you know you’re officially a covid nurse when you are granted your own very face shield and N95 respirator). I swabbed one of my patients the other day. Wearing a face shield will definitely take some getting used to.
Our unit, where we were known as an exception less than a week ago, will be the next to convert into a covid unit. We’ll try to discharge as many patients home as we can, while those not medically stable enough will get transferred to another hospital. My workplace is one of the many hospitals in the area that are rapidly turning into covid centers. Today, I saw that they are beginning to tape off areas of the lobby, so we can utilize these as treatment areas as well. There is rumor that they’ll even start using the seating area in our cafeteria. Governor Cuomo ordered all hospitals to increase capacity by 50-100%, so we’re literally converting every spot we can into patient care areas. I’m glad that we’re creating more beds, but I worry about where the staff, equipment, and supplies will come from. I have tried to look at it from another angle in hopes of finding some positivity with all of this, but I just don’t have any optimism right now.
Sad, but true. I am scared for what is about to come. Because of my choice of profession, I experience both the blessing and curse in playing more of an active role in this whole pandemic. I know, firsthand, the lack of supplies, PPE, ventilators, nurses, doctors, beds, medications, testing solutions, viral swabs that we’re about to get ourselves into (or not get into, rather). I see the emotional and physical burnout, distress, and illness within our front line providers. Every day is something different. In a way, I kind of just want it to get to its lowest point, because after that, the only direction we can go is up. And I’m really looking forward to better days, where I can once again lay on a tranquil, gorgeous beach and watch the sunrise (I’m thinking about you, Brazil!) or hop on a train to go all over Europe. Heck, with all the scheduled vacations I’ll have to cancel due to covid, I’ll end up having to take five weeks in a row at the end of the year or something. Sooo.. I was thinking of doing India / Nepal / Sri Lanka?!?
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