Nurses (Caroline VanDenBrouck)
Fact Checked source: Edmund Lee, "Nurses Share Coronavirus Stories Anonymously in an Online Document"
On March 25, 2020, The New York Times author Edmund Lee spoke out for nurses who are sharing their shocking experiences during this COVID-19 pandemic. It discuses the accounts of over 1,200 health care workers compiled by Sonja Schwartzbach, a nurse from New Jersey.https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/business/media/coronavirus-nurses-stories-anonymous.html
Looking Deeper: Five Facts Checked
This article is describing experiences that almost seem unreal. Let's see if others have recall experiences like these described here."But we show up and have to keep showing up," one nurse wrote, "and we have to test ourselves."
After doing some searching, I could not find any other information about nurses having to test themselves for the virus itself. I believe what they are referring to here is testing themselves for some of the known symptoms. I did, however, come across numerous articles, including this one from CNN, where medical professionals were unable to get tested for the virus even with the presence of symptoms.
Many in the survey said they had been instructed to clean their masks and reuse them for several days.
According to an article by National Nurses United, the CDC gave the green light to practices for the decontamination and reuse of masks when faced with a shortage. However, this has yet to be validated as safe and still protective to the health of all health care workers. Along with this, there were also numerous articles, including this one from L.A. Times, where other nurses shared similar instances where they were told to reuse their protective masks.
Other contributors have reported that they were told to cover their mouths with bandannas or coffee filters.
Not having the proper protective equipment is a huge current issue and makes me feel awful for those currently serving on the frontlines. I feel awful that is is coming to this. This is a very real occurrence and even the CDC states that bandannas and homemade masks with coffee filters can be used as a last resort (article from Business Insider).
About 26 percent said "they weren't sure" if their patients were suffering from the virus, noting the general lack of available testing kits.
One of the biggest issues revolving around the COVID-19 pandemic is the inadequacy and shortage of testing available. There is an extreme shortage in supplies for these tests and problems with funding, says Vox. This poses a risk for nurses and other healthcare professionals as they are unaware of what they may be coming in contact with.
Contributors have also reported that gowns and gloves were being reused, which may cause serious problems for intensive care patients.
Along with the reuse of masks, gowns and gloves also may be needed to be used more than once. Some nurses are mentioning that they are being told to disinfect their gloves instead of changing them. An article from NBC News describes some of these accounts. This could potentially pose a huge risk to the health of both the healthcare professionals and the patients.
Analytic Essay
Our Heroes Need Help: Nurses and Their Experiences in the Workplace
During this time of the current COVID-19 pandemic, most of us are cooped up at home waiting for this quarantine to end. We are spending our days waiting for the time to past, trying to make our days as “normal” as possible. But while we are trying to find things to do with our seemingly endless time, there are heroes currently fighting on the front lines to help keep us safe and healthy. We don’t normally think about how extreme circumstances, like our current one, affect those around us, especially those who are in knee deep. Nurses everywhere are going through unimaginable things and need our support now more than ever. During this unfortunate pandemic, nurses everywhere are drastically unprepared, under protected, and are scared for their health, the health of their patients, and the health of all those around them.
Nurses everywhere are currently being forced into a medical battle with Coronavirus. Nurses have lots of trained experience in the medical field, but most have never seen anything like this. They are going to work and seeing face-to-face the effects of this virus on those around them. Their previous work environments have disappeared and been replaced with war zones. The only problem is the fact that they are fighting this war without weapons and without protection.
Sonja Schwartzbach, a nurse from New Jersey, say all of this firsthand and needed to share it with the world. She began compiling accounts from over twelve hundred health care professionals so she could show the world what was really going on.
…she determined that hospital conditions were “far worse” than most people realized...
The truth about what is really going on wasn’t being accurately told by the media, so she needed to share what they were seeing.
Nurses everywhere are running low on all aspects of personal protective equipment like masks (especially N95 masks), gowns, gloves, etc. Some places are even running out of the proper disinfectants needed to keep everything clean. These resources are essential for protecting health care workers and their patients. Without these necessary supplies, these nurses fighting for us could become infected and could potentially lose their lives. This PPE is usually disposable to insure a sterile and safe work environment for everyone involved. In this time of crisis and PPE shortage, nurses around the world are being told to clean and reuse their masks and gowns and even disinfect their gloves so they don’t need to be changed as often. They are also being told, even by organizations like the CDC, that they can use bandannas or homemade masks with coffee filters as a last resort. With this however, it has yet to be proven that these makeshift masks and disinfected ones are safe to use. I would trust anything coming from such a renowned organization like the CDC, but that sounds unsafe and untrustworthy. A nurse from Texas elaborates on how she feels on all this:
Never seen anything like this. Protocols change minute to minute if there are any at all. I can no longer trust the CDC. For the first time in my career I am scared to go to work. (Lee, 2020)
They need the truth about what is safe and about what is going on, but sadly they aren’t receiving it.
Another element of protection they are losing is the fact that tests for the coronavirus are generally unavailable and there is a severe lack of them. Some nurses proclaimed that they weren’t really sure if their patients were infected or not. The nurses themselves are also having a hard time getting tested themselves. Just one infected health care worker is enough to quarantine half of a hospitals staff (Lee, 2020).
If nurses cannot properly protect themselves, how can they be expected to protect and help us.
There are currently nearly 1.2 million registered nurses working in hospitals today and a significant number of others are stepping up to aid in the fight against COVID-19. In the end, nurses need more personal protective equipment and resources to help protect themselves and their patients. But they also need more than that. They need our help. They need us to stay home and stay safe. They need us to follow social distancing rules and demonstrate proper handwashing techniques. We need to help nurses so they can continue to help and fight for us.
They need the truth, they need protection, and they need help.