My experience of being at the frontline; Covid19 Nurse

The risk taken daily by the army of frontline workers treating Covid19 patients have been starkly illustrated by a growing number of deaths.

My deepest condolences to the nurses, doctors, and other health care workers who lost their life while caring for covid19 patients. May God bless the bereaved families and may prayers ease the pain of their loss.

There were reports stating that if the virus could have been contained in the place where it originated from, i.e. China, this wouldn’t have turned into a pandemic.

In most of the countries, the penalty of a single murder is either lifetime imprisonment or capital punishment but who is responsible for this mass killing with covid 19 deaths. Who is at fault?

It’s time for every Country Leaders to realise this and fight for the humanity as the upcoming days are likely to be worser than this.

Frontliner is not just a term it holds a lot of meaning, it holds plenty of courage and dedication. Working in a normal ward and covid-wards is entirely different.

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In my 10 years of experience including teaching and clinical nursing , this time I felt I had toughest job among all.

As a nurse , the 200th Birth Anniversary of Florence Nightingale which is in this year , is very important for me and to celebrate the occasion, WHO declared to dedicate the year to NURSES and MIDWIVES.

Truly it is the year of the nurses because the pandemic has put us in a very challenging situation.

Here is my experience:

“I had one week duty in covid 19 wards, even more than work burden , it was very difficult to survive with PPE.

With this PPE, luckily we had 6 hrs duty. But every second in a PPE is difficult, every moment I pray to God to give me some strength to work.

The most important thing I feel as a responsible global citizen from Kalaburgi , Karnataka state of India, is that, UN should take some action against people and country responsible for the deaths of the million of people across the world. It burns me with anger because due to Covid 19 , families have lost their responsible father , caring mothers , sons and daughters. Who will replace them? Who will fulfill the responsibilities they had in a family?

Psychological problems in patients has become more evident because of complete isolation from friends and family, I have even witnessed some of patients developing depressive feelings due to covid 19 .

It becomes much more challenging when we deal with paediatric patients as separation anxiety from their parents is not easy to handle. They want to be free and wander around in the ward from bed to bed . Keeping their movement restricted is a tough part and when we try to do so they sometime show uncontrollable behaviour or throw tantrums . We empathise with the children because they are not able to play freely .

I also took care of pregnant mothers who were in their last term of pregancy but unfortunately had become covid positive. We helped deliver one such patient through LSCS but it was very difficult to see her in that situation as she was not allowed to hold and feed her baby until she was free from covid19 .

One of the mothers on her 1st postnatal day desperately waited for her husband and mother but alas! had to be kept in isolation. Although we assured her that she will be able to see them soon.”

“Psychological pressure for nurses is more or less common to all. It is a tough and challenging experience that I had. The breathing difficulty after donning PPE is so evident that the moment donning is completed, I feel like removing it and have a fresh open air to breathe but we can’t do it. One day , just after I completed donning PPE and entered the ward , I had the strong urge to go to the washroom to urinate. I was under so much stress, that I just felt like tearing up the PPE and go to washroom, but I didn’t do it. Thanks to God almighty for giving me that strength to endure such tough times.

For making PPE in future, companies should keep in mind that it should be developed in such a way that it reduces breathing difficulty and is more comfortable, modify it to have oxygen supplying machines or even allow for bladder functions.

Using science and technology to fight such pandemic, every countries should try to implement

1. Bacterial and viral scanners similar to the the present thermal scanners

2. Every countries should focus on incorporating graduate students of pathology, microbiology and pharmacology for realistic and practical approach

3. Allowing nurses in every country for independent practice . (As It is allowed in some of western countries)

3.Manufacturing health care products which are cost effective & easily available

4. Strict Legal action against the countries which try to creates artificial pandemic situations.

I thank my family for their continuous support,

I thank Karnataka state government and BMCRI Dean cum Director for fighting covid 19 in a well organised manner.

Thanking Team IAPH for giving me a platform to share my experience.