Q&A – Staci Swim on nursing and COVID-19

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Q: Has COVID-19 changed your opinion on the jobs nurses do?

A: COVID 19 has not only changed my opinion on the jobs that nurses do, but it has changed the profession overall. In the beginning of the pandemic, nurses were heroes for their courage to risk their own lives to fight an invisible enemy that took the lives of too many people.

Nurses were, and still are, working in a “war zone” much like the conditions experienced by Florence Nightingale when she cared for the soldiers of the Crimean War. The lack of supplies, lack of protection for nurses and patients, and environments less than optimal for healing, required the nurse to BECOME the environment. The nurse has had to step into the role of family, friend, and “soldier.” It is not surprising that many nurses are looking for non-bedside nursing positions and jobs outside of the profession all together. 

Q: Has it affected how you look at patients?

A: I believe that we will find research in the future that supports social isolation of a COVID patient was detrimental to the patient’s outcome and played an active role in their demise. People are not made to be alone when they are suffering. Social isolation causes suffering in the healthy person and is used for punishment of prisoners. Patients need family/friends with them when they are most vulnerable.

We are relational beings. People have an innate capability for self-healing when the patient is placed in an environment that promotes healing. The patient should be able to trust that a nurse will create an environment for their self-healing capacities to flourish. This has not been the case. Patients are being cared for by nurses that are overworked, being “encouraged” to work even when they are sick, forced to work in areas that are not familiar to them…the list goes on. In my opinion, being a patient in today’s health care organization is about “survival of the fittest”. 

Q: Has it affected your feelings toward the profession?

A: In the very beginning of this pandemic, I projected that there were two predictable outcomes for the profession of nursing. First, nurses may decide to leave the bedside, which we are seeing already. They are in search of careers that offer self and family protection.

Second, those nurses that stay at the bedside will experience some level of PTSD and may need mental health intervention. One cannot fight a war without adequate weapons and be victorious. One also cannot fight an invisible enemy that has caused so much destruction of human life and emerge without mental scarring. It was quite disappointing to me that the standards to protect the public, created by the profession, were intentionally compromised, affecting the well-being of the patient and the nurse. 

Q: Has it changed how nurses are trained?

A: We have found that nursing school can be conducted in ways that we never thought could happen, but fortunately, the changes that happened so quickly have shown to be effective. Some students have liked the virtual opportunities, others have not. Simulation has played a vital part in the education of nursing students through the pandemic. Research support that a large population of nurse educators are nearing retirement age.

In this group of educators, many have not utilized technology as a major teaching modality. Lack of knowledge, lack of time and training have been major deterrents to using technology in the nursing classroom. During the time of virtual learning, technology has been the staple to the student’s success. Simulation has become the “Gold Standard” for educating nursing students.   

Q: Has it changed the need for nurses?

A: The nursing shortage was alive and thriving prior to the global pandemic. The pandemic has allowed the world to see the consequences of a nursing shortage. For many, it has been through a personal lens and for others it has been through the lens of the media. I believe the implications of the pandemic on the profession of nursing will continue to evolve over time.

The unfortunate turmoil over the supply and demand of nurses throughout the country, has enticed nurses to accept traveling contracts that have financial incentives available. It appears many health care organizations are surprised that nurses are leaving a place that they have worked at for quite some time to benefit from the incentives. Nurses, in my opinion, are loyal employees, but often forced to work in an environment that is not conducive to providing safe quality care.

In the news recently there has been talk about capping a traveling nurse’s salary. It is interesting to me that the individuals making six or more-digit salaries are concerned that nurses are being overpaid. For decades, nurses have tried to defend their worth in the health care system. Nurses have been labeled as an “expense” to the health care system and are the first to be sacrificed when budgetary cuts are made.

Why is it surprising that nurses would leave an organization that has not been loyal to them? Some nurses do not have the ability to become a traveling nurse and they are staying in their current positions. These nurses would be grateful to be recognized and receive incentives for their loyalty to their organization.