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The situation of nurses and midwives working in hospitals and other medical facilities changes day by day. “The work is completely reorganized, all procedures, schedules and plans are relegated to the background, the fight against COVID-19 is a priority,” explains Zofia Małas, president of the Supreme Council of Nurses and Midwives. How are nurses who are on the front lines to tackle the coronavirus deal with this challenge?
- Problems in health care are clearly visible during the coronavirus pandemic. «The average age of nurses is 52. We have a generation gap and serious shortcomings »explains Zofia Małas
- People suddenly didn’t stop getting sick. Community nurses and nurses working in long-term care are in a difficult situation. They lack personal protective equipment and meet patients at home every day
- «The situation is extraordinary in the country of the epidemic. We have too many sick people for the number of staff and for the supplies. You could say we are at war now »
Nurses who have worked in infectious diseases wards so far have had a slightly better start in preparing to admit patients with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Working with infectious or potentially infectious patients on a daily basis, they are used to this demanding job.
– Now, apart from these infectious wards, there is a lot of new wards that were created for the duration of the epidemic. Nursing staff needed to be trained to work in these departments. Quickly switching to new conditions, often in the field, was not easy for some of the staff, explains Zofia Małas, president of NRPiP.
It depends on the management of a given hospital what the work of nurses looks like now. In some cases, nursing hours are extended to even a few days, and then a week off.
– This solution introduced, among others The Polish Mother’s Health Center, in order to have a reserve of employees in case it is necessary to quarantine a larger number of on-call employees, including nurses and midwives – he adds.
It is enough for a message to appear that there is a suspicion of COVID-19 among the staff, such persons must be quarantined and treated (if the test is positive), and there is a problem with staffing the duty right away.
– Due to the fact that the nursing staff has always been in contact, or even less, it is now palpable. We have such situations now that the chief nurses call us, the Supreme Chamber, to help them complete a brigade for duty.
Some of the nurses are on leave due to childcare, some are in quarantine, and others do not come to work due to deteriorating health.
– It’s not that this health condition has worsened because of the coronavirus, but because of stress and overload due to the on-call situation at work. Fearing for our health, some of us decide to go on sick leave. Please also note that the average age of nurses in Poland is 52 – adds Zofia Małas.
All this makes it very difficult to fill nursing shifts. The president quotes the situation from the hospital in Grójec, where, due to epidemics and quarantine, there was no one to staff the anesthesia ward, where three patients were laid under respirators.
– The head nurse called us almost crying, asking for help in completing the crew. The two nurses who stayed are on their feet because it’s their second day of duty. We managed to attract substitutes – nurses. One of them came from Opole, and the other from Sandomierz – he says and adds: – Now you can clearly see that the problems that we reported many, much earlier have not been solved.
It goes, among others about the generation gap and the insufficient number of nursing staff, which, according to our interlocutor, is drastically scarce. This is best seen at the moment.
See also: He was smuggled into the ICU. “There, people are on respirators and most of them are on their way to death”
Still no PPE, but there is light at the end of the tunnel
Nurses who lack personal protective equipment come to the Supreme Council. Literally everything is missing. The council tries to help in this difficult time.
– We had a lot of phone calls, e-mails and various reminders that nurses and family midwives, as well as long-term care nurses, were not able to stock up on basic personal protective equipment – masks, gloves, disinfectants – explains the president.
Thanks to the intervention of the council, with the help of the Ministry of Health and the Department of Nurses, it was possible to quickly deliver, with the help of the army, several batches of disinfectants to nurses working in the patient’s home.
– Due to the coronavirus epidemic, many chronically ill patients have been discharged from hospitals and still need care. These are the people the nurses need to reach in person. Not every service can be done through teleportation.
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However, there are not uncommon cases when a nurse has to visit the patient’s home, change the dressing, assess the health condition. These interactions with the patient are abundant and without personal protective equipment, it cannot be done hygienically.
– There will be more deliveries next week. In addition to disinfectants and gloves, masks will also arrive, because they are also very lacking.
A great help for nurses is entering into the eWuś system information that a person is in quarantine at a given address. Unfortunately, many people still conceal from doctors information that they may have come into contact with a person infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus or have recently returned to the country and are in home quarantine. If this information “emerges” only after contact with a doctor or nurse, all staff who have contacted the patient must be quarantined and tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection. This leaves more and more too few of the medical staff excluded from work.
Legal care for nurses and midwives
Not only nurses, but also doctors, paramedics, and even pharmacists still report shortages in personal protective equipment, staff shortages, and problems with staffing the shifts. In addition to those infected with COVID-19, there are a whole host of others who also need help. The epidemic did not stop us from suffering from other diseases.
– We can see that most employers do their best to provide the right amount of personal protective equipment, but there are still not enough of them. Employees face dilemmas. I always say that nurses and midwives will not leave their patients’ beds, no matter what happened, but … without adequate protection, we can be a vector of coronavirus transmission to patients – explains Małas.
The law offices of the Supreme Council of Nurses and Midwives, as well as the offices of regional chambers, are working at full capacity, answering nurses and midwives what else they can do, how to behave in difficult cases.
– There are a lot of inquiries related to the lack of personal protective equipment, relocation of nurses to other wards, and even to other hospitals. We provide legal assistance and help to resolve these conflicts.
Any irregularities should be reported to the head nurse or ward nurse, who first reacts to the problem.
– This is what the nursing staff in hospital departments is for, to eliminate as much as possible these irregularities. The situation is extraordinary in the country of the epidemic. We have too many sick people for the number of staff and for the supplies. You could say we’re at war now. He attacks blindly with an aggressor who we cannot see and who can be said – adds the president.
Nurses are concerned not only with their patients but also with their families. Any patient may be potentially infectious.
– Nurses bend over patients, touch the body, have to perform a lot of activities with the patient. Nurses are therefore at particular risk of contracting the coronavirus. Duty hours in the hospital ward last 24 hours, and the exposure to the biological agent is very high. We should not be surprised that there are so many concerns among nurses who have to return home after the shift to their families – explains Małas and adds: – We have a lot of messages from nurses who are afraid that they are the greatest threat to their family in precisely because of this lack of basic means of protection.
At the same time, the president emphasizes that this frustrating reality is not only ours. It applies to virtually the entire world, including countries richer than us.
– The World Health Organization has been talking for years about the threat of a potential epidemic. Even so, no country was really prepared for what was happening now.
How can we help medics, nurses and other healthcare professionals? If only we have such an opportunity, let’s stay at home and limit our contacts with other people. Let’s take care of hygiene, wash our hands often with warm water and soap, avoid crowds of people. If we need medical help, remember to mention that we may have come into contact with a potentially infected person. The situation we are in is difficult for all of us and indirectly depends on how long it will last.
Have a question about the coronavirus? Send them to the following address: [email protected]. You will find a daily updated list of answers HERE: Coronavirus – frequently asked questions and answers
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