CALGARY (CityNews) – Frontline worker fatigue is becoming overwhelming in some hospitals as the pressure of keeping COVID-19 patients alive grows each day.
While many look at lower case numbers to justify relaxing restrictions, healthcare professionals say pandemic pressure hasn’t let off.
“There’s huge pressure to take care of these very sick patients with a super high caseload, so a lot of stress,” said Danielle Larivee with the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA). “I’ve heard a lot of stories of nurses crying on shift or when they go home.”
Simple tasks like checking on a patient, whether they’re dealing with COVID-19 or something else, are complicated by added safety protocols.
Nurses put full PPE on just to enter a room and gowns pile up in hospital waste bins.
The UNA said members working on outbreak units have cycles of being short-staffed and working long overtime hours if workers themselves are in quarantine or sick.
“Hospitalization rates are a lagging indicator and on average, patients admitted due to COVID-19 have an average stay of 12 days,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw during Monday’s COVID-19 update.
“This can be even longer for the sickest patients who need ICU care. Until our hospitalization rates come down like our other numbers, we need to continue with the measures in place.”
The UNA said nurses are still excited about going through the province’s vaccination program – a glimmer of hope — as the province approaches one year since its first COVID-19 case.
But new challenges are emerging and some feel a lower number of active cases may not be enough.
“We’ll have to see what happens with the numbers this week,” said Larivee. “We certainly have some concerns, in particular, with variants coming into the province and what that’s going to mean how aggressive the measures should be.”
