Asthmatic caring for covid patients

[Peniel95]

Hi everyone,

Can an asthmatic nurse take care of covid19 patients? I am a new grad that has moderate/ severe asthma and was wondering if I should list it as a limitation to care for Covid patients. Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[chare]

If you haven't done so, you should contact either your facility's occupational or employee heath department regarding if and how you can be granted an exemption.

Bests wishes.

[Peniel95]

Thanks @chare!

[Sour Lemon]

11 minutes ago, Peniel95 said:

Hi everyone,

Can an asthmatic nurse take care of covid19 patients? I am a new grad that has moderate/ severe asthma and was wondering if I should list it as a limitation to care for Covid patients. Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Every employer is different, but in general, we don't get to choose which patients we're willing to care for. At the few hospitals I've worked at, any work restriction resulted in immediate removal from the schedule.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

We have a few nurses that have MD notes related to medical conditions that limit their ability to care for COVID patients. Some have been moved to light duty positions, but I guess a couple have kept working. As long as you adhere to proper PPE guidelines you should be okay, but you need to decide whether you're willing to risk it. These days you're not likely to find many employers willing to make accommodations, especially for new graduates. Good luck.

[chare]

At my facility, nurses in any of the high risk categories can apply for an exemption.  Applications are reviewed by employee health and infectious disease, and if approved these individuals are exempted for caring for COVID 19 positive patients or PUI.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Duplicate threads merged. 

[Peniel95]

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions!

[MunoRN, RN]

Where I work it's based on a risk score, asthma gets the smallest score for increased risk since there isn't much evidence that it actually increases mortality risk with Covid, increasing age is associated with far more risk so if you're young-ish with asthma then it's probably not going to keep you out of the Covid unit.

But the more important question is whether you're really at less risk working outside the Covid unit.  Of the nurses where I work who have contracted Covid, the majority have never worked in the Covid unit.  This is at least partly due to exposures outside of work, but you're also less protected when working outside of the Covid unit.  We wear respirators continuously in the Covid unit, yet outside of it you are exposed to visitors who are not screened through testing prior to coming into the hospital, and you're also exposed to other staff.