This dismay is not new for nurses the pandemic has just shone light into dark corners, exposing what was already there.Īs the number of Covid-19 patients began declining, nurses like me, who had signed on to work at a guaranteed weekly rate that included crisis pay, received an email that began with something like, “Dear Healthcare Hero,” and ended with news of a 15% pay cut. Days become crippling when you plug along in silent complicity - your professional ethics threatened, your core values compromised, your spirit crushed. The work is hard, but harder yet is turning a blind eye to the growing spiderweb of cracks in the system. I tried to count the number of times I swore that this year would be my last year of nursing, but lost track. It rang as my patients died, and while I zipped up body bags. It rang while I held patients’ hands for comfort and while I held iPads for family Zoom calls. It rang while I calculated IV drips, drew blood for lab work, suctioned tracheostomies, and slid bedpans under patients. My work phone averaged nearly 40 incoming calls during a 12-hour shift. The responsibility for their patients was absorbed by the remaining bodies, even though they were already drowning in end-of-shift tasks.Įvery nurse on the floor was required to carry hospital-provided cellphones so we could be readily reached by doctors, pharmacists, case managers, the lab, the emergency department, the imaging department, physical therapy, the kitchen, and patients’ family members, to name a few. It wasn’t unusual for these workers, sometimes referred to as bodies, to be sent home three-quarters of the way through a shift and not paid for the lost time. If the number of patients on a unit dropped below a preset level at any point during the day, the hospital’s calculation required a certain number of nurses and nurse’s aides to be sent home to protect the profit margin. ![]() The number was defensible by a mathematical formula designed to protect the hospital’s bottom line, with assurances that the ratio was safe and reasonable for patients and staff.īut when I did the math, the ratio guaranteed 12 hours of panicked chaos, with call lights blazing above every patient’s door and a cacophony of alarms punctuated by cries for help. The official daily staff-to-patient ratio was calculated in some quiet office in the hospital, a galaxy away from the noise, the smells, and the overflowing bins of discarded PPE. ![]() My hospital’s leaders frighten me more than the virus ![]() Exclusive analysis of biotech, pharma, and the life sciences Learn More
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