The essay is based on a conversation between Karen O'Donnell Fountain, a 56-year-old nurse from New York, and another person. It has been edited to make it clearer.
I cried this weekend.
The emergency room was full and we had a lot of hallway beds as well. We were able to keep seeing patients because of the beds that were put in the hallway.
You're trying to help 10 people at the same time, and you're also trying to deliver or get an IV in. There are so many of them and only one of you. I think it adds to what we are going through.
I've never seen a season like this one in my career.
I think it's due to kids not being exposed to germs and not being able to fight off the virus as they were two years prior because of COVID. We are going into rough waters for the children.
It's hard to watch a 3-month-old who can't breathe alone. They don't appreciate things that you do for them. I had a 3-year-old that I had to give an IV to and he was a fighter.
You empathise with the patient and the parent. Most of the mothers have a hard time consoling the child, so they are at a loss. It makes for a very upset and unhappy child when you have things that make it hard to breathe.
The two large New York City hospitals that I work in have full PICU's.
The PICU was maxed out over the weekend, with most patients having symptoms of the respiratory syncytial virus. The younger patients are very inconsolable. It was difficult to breathe. Not consuming food. There were 50 people in the waiting room who were waiting to see a doctor.
I've heard it from other nurses. Patients are being kept in the ER until a bed opens up in the PICU.
If your child is playing, eating, running around, watching TV, and active, they probably have a cold, and we don't want you to bring them to the ER because it will make the ER bigger. We don't want to put someone who is very sick behind someone who isn't.
Two young girls were sent home after being treated by me. They waited more than 3 hours because it was a common cold. An emergency room is where people go to get help. It's for emergency situations. We want to make sure the emergency room is clear so that we can help the sickest of the sick.
Some people can't be travel nurses. Some people are not suited for it. You leave your home. 13 weeks is the length of time that most of the contracts are for. It is straining if you have children.
It is a lonely job. It takes a long time to befriend someone at work. It isn't a life for all nurses.
It is an amazing life if you like to travel and your spouse wants to travel with you.
I work for a healthcare company that supplies travel nurses, and we have seen a huge increase in the number of requests for children's nurses. A lot of PICU nurses take care of adult patients. They have moved to the adult world instead of returning to the hospital. There is a nursing shortage in the area.
If you're short-staffed, your nurse-to-patient ratio will go up. It's having a big impact on the nurses that are still actively bedside, and it's increasing their stress. It's increasing fatigue and unhappiness.
It's making us feel bad. We are exhausted.
It's not healthcare that these TV shows are about, but hooking you on it. There's no time to flirt. There is no that happening.
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