Nurses Being Supported Is A Thing Of The Past

I never in my wildest dreams would have predicted what this year had in store for us as healthcare professionals. I am in utter shock and disbelief at what I have witnessed in the last 8 months. I can easily look back to last winter and remember how odd it was to see other nurses having to wear a face mask because the refused to take the flu shot. There wasn’t many of them, but there was always a select few each year that wouldn’t take the vaccine based on allergies, beliefs, or maybe even a fear on needles. Every time I would see one of my coworkers having to wear a face mask the entire shift for several months in a row, I immediately felt horrible for them. I wondered how uncomfortable it must have felt for them having to wear a face covering for 12 hours at a time. I often times imagined that they must have felt like the were being smothered. I had no clue back then where we would all be in a few months.

When this pandemic began, I completely understood why I needed to wear a face mask all day long at work. I had all of a sudden became one of them, (the flu shot refusal people) lol. Only I hadn’t refused anything. We were facing a global pandemic and starting our battle against a mean and ugly virus. We all jumped in feet first and did what we had to do. We showed up, we cared for our patients, and we fought and keep fighting.

What upsets me the most is what has happened to all of us in these last 8 months. Or should I say what has not happened to us. Where is the support that I had envisioned that we would all have. Let me see if I can explain this a little bit better. Before all of this started if we had to enter an isolation room, we had what we needed. We has gowns, gloves, hats, face shields, N95’s, anything you could possibly need was readily available. We could toss them out in the trash and we knew for 100 % that there was always more. Now I know what most of you are thinking right now. It’s not the hospitals fault that we entered a global pandemic and ran out of supplies quicker than you could blink and eye. Maybe it is their fault, maybe it isn’t… What is their fault is the lack of true support.

Imagine again back to last year. Let’s say for example you had a patient who had c diff and you had to gown up appropriately each time you went in and out of the room. Let’s say your manager saw you taking off the gown at not exactly the specifically deemed area as you exited the room. You may have gotten verbally scolded or even written up at this minor mistake. Now flash forward again to where we have been this year without appropriate PPE. All of a sudden now the rules can change for convenience. Since there was not adequate PPE available, it was all of a sudden okay to keep that same mask on all day. It was also okay to often time reuse paper gowns, gloves, and face shields. Last year this would have been seen as blasphemy. This entire year was spent with management creating a new policy and procedures on almost a daily basis in order to fit their needs.

Nurses all over the country have been scared. Nothing has made much sense to us since this whole thing started. We have been worried and afraid. Yet we all have continued to show up for work and do what we have to do. In most places if you even question any of these new crazy policies you are told that you just have to do it that way. When does anyone worry about us? When does management even begin to start caring? It isn’t just this Coronavirus. It is a million things that we aren’t supported on. When will things change? Will this ever stop? I don’t think that it will. At least not until we scream loud enough to actually be heard.