There is a nursing shortage nationwide. Several hospitals may play it off that everything is fine and the staff numbers are where they need to be, but the truth of the matter is there is a nursing shortage nationwide. The hospital systems were not well staffed as they had stated in local newspapers. An article circulated that all local hospitals had enough staff when another Covid surge came in July and August 2021. Meanwhile, hospitals pushed the ratios to their limits. Surgical patients increased to seven and eight patients per nurse, telemetry patients six per nurse, and ICU three per nurse. Extremely unsafe numbers for the patients and the nurse. These situations are how mistakes are made, and things get missed.
#1 Problems during the early pandemic
I cannot speak for all the world’s medical systems, but the US’s medical system was not ready to take those number of patients. We still aren’t. So many stories circulated within the States of patients traveling 50 miles because all the hospitals were filled. In one such story, a patient suffered a heart attack and died before receiving the needed care because the hospitals were so inundated with patients. The staff at any hospital was low for the number of patients that filled, which increased the staffing ratios. PPEs were a huge problem, to the point that a black market came from redistributing masks, gowns, and other items. Amazon, at one point, only sold PPE to medical institutions. All the while, nurses are watching their patients die every day. We would come onto shift and ask who passed since the last time they worked. This placed a significant burden on the individual nurse, unit, and hospital.
#2 Carrying the burden
Each shift of more patients sick, so many complain of the same symptoms. At one point, no visitors were allowed in the hospitals at all. So many people died alone without their families. The zoom calls helped but were not the same. Stress, anxiety, and depression for all nurses settled in. Outside of work, the pandemic carried on, and stores missed essential products from shelves. Nothing happened, no concerts or festivals. Social distancing and isolation on days we didn’t come into work. There was no break. Hospitals placed rules that if a staff member traveler 100 miles from the hospital, they needed to quarantine.
#3 Travel Nursing
Nurses began to leave. Some left the profession altogether. They figured it was no longer worth their mental health. While others decided that if they were going to work in stressful conditions, they might get paid and travel. The option of travel nursing surged during the pandemic—the opportunity to travel during the pandemic, taking on an 8 to 13-week contract. The nurse is given a chance to come to a hospital that needs help. They work four to seven days a week for the duration and move on or extend for additional weeks. Several nurses go from hospital to hospital, and others take long breaks in between contracts. Travel nursing gives the nurse the power that core nurses don’t have, the choice, the money, the location, and the time off. So many core nurses left the hospital to go to the road.
The numbers are dwindling. Nurses are tired, and we fear for our licenses and the safety of our patients.