On This Nurses Day Let Us Rededicate Ourselves To Protecting Them From COVID by ensuring we follow safe Covid appropriate practices
The CORONA pandemic is like no other pandemic that we have witnessed in recent history. It is truly a "Black Swan" event that has turned the world topsy-turvy and devastated our economy and healthcare systems.
What all the world wars, cold war, nuclear weapons, terrorism, the great depression and other pandemics could not do in a 100 years CORONA has done in a few months. This certainly will change our life forever.
Just when we thought we were getting over the first wave of CORONA in January of this year we were hit by a tsunami of the second wave of CORONA.The sheer numbers, the ferocity and the speed of spread took the world by a storm and left us gasping for breath literally and figuratively
Never in the last five decades of my medical career have I seen a pandemic of this sort that has not only overwhelmed the healthcare systems of the world but also caused immense hardships to the healthcare workers too.
We were totally unprepared last year for this new virus which did not even have a name at that time .Hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers got infected and unfortunately thousands succumbed to their illness. Unfortunately many of these were young nurses in the system . In our own system about 15% of our frontline workers were affected but fortunately all of them recovered.
The COVID pandemic has affected the healthcare providers in many ways which include getting exposed and infected by the pathogen, long stressful working hours, fatigue, psychological distress, the stigma and inability to spend time with their families, financial stress due to decreased footfalls of non-COVID patients and in some occasions physical and psychological violence by the relatives of patients who had a poor outcome.
The impact of this was the maximum in our nurses who were mostly young female healthcare givers and deserved special attention.
Fortunately, many lessons have been learnt during the first wave of CORONA and also now with the advent of vaccines we are better prepared to protect our healthcare workers.
There are many ways of protecting the healthcare workers during this pandemic which include:
Increased and better screening measures to detect COVID in patients, better isolation protocols and the use of personal protection equipment especially in high-risk areas to prevent transmission of disease.
Training and retraining in protective measures along with strong hospital surveillance systems also reduce the chance of infections in healthcare workers.
Use of digital technology and remote monitoring devices for tele-consults and monitoring of patients can reduce the need for physical interaction.
A strong support system and the concept of working as a team in a staggered manner to prevent physical and psychological burnout.
In spite of the extremely busy schedule, it is important that all healthcare workers like doctors, nurses and paramedical staff try to have regular foodhabits, eat nutritious food, keep themselves hydrated,try to get enough sleep and keep themselves relaxed.
Addressing and provision of appropriate adequate free medical care for the healthcare workers who have been infected by the virus. Incentivisation of the frontline workers for the stressful and high risk job that they are involved in. Economic and job security wherever possible since there has been a significant economic impact on some healthcare workers because of the decrease in non-COVID related healthcare activities.
One other aspect of protecting the healthcare workers that has not been emphasized enough, is a growing indifference to COVID-19 appropriate behavior by the public which includes social distancing, wearing masks, hand sanitization and taking the vaccine if eligible and that does not bode well for us. This kind of behavior not only causes a rapid spread of the disease in the community but also puts healthcare workers at great risk.
Fortunately, for us we have one more tool in our armamentarium in our fight against COVID in the form of vaccination. We should strongly urge all healthcare workers to be vaccinated.
We should not let our guard down in spite of the vaccination and be aware that vaccination is not a guarantee against developing infections.
COVID appropriate behavior and precautions in dealing with patients in the healthcare sector needs to be continued with full vigor. We have had a great track record of vaccinating more than 90% of our healthcare workers in our organization.
The psychological impact of COVID on healthcare workers has been profound and hence frequent counselling sessions, motivation and pep talks are being conducted not only to the concerned healthcare workers but also to their respective families.
All in all the healthcare system and health care workers especially nurses are being stretched to the limit by the pandemic and need the utmost support from the society and the system.
I am sure the measures enlisted will go a long way in protecting our nurses and health care workers who are the true “CORONA WARRIORS“, fighting this pandemic valiantly for us. They are truly our “Guardian Angels " The Florence Nightingales of our times protecting us from the relentless onslaught of Covid.
We are proud that despite all these hardships that the nurses and other health care givers are facing, they are doing the best in serving the community with a smile.They need our support , gratitude and blessings .
On this Nurses Day I bow down with all humility to these noble saviours of humanity and pray for their health , safety and well being .
