Coworkers Going Out During Pandemic, Hospital Admin Hypocrisy...

[chachanurse101]

...Can anyone relate to this? Since the Summer I've had coworkers going out, posting photos, going to Disney World, clubs, meeting up with friends and family in groups...they post it all on social media and at the same time ask everyone to "mask up!" and have the "I can't stay home, I'm a nurse!" filter on their profile picture...what has really bugged me recently is my unit is hosting a holiday party at a charge RNs house. How does that make sense? Inviting all of management and staff, plus any guests they decide to bring with them, to a house party in the middle of a worsening pandemic to drink and hang out? I feel disgusted. I will not be attending the party. I can't look some of them in the face anymore, it is so bad.

Another thing that is bothering me is the way management and the hospital I work for is responding to the conditions we are in. My hospital is funding and hosting events all around town (that is corporate healthcare systems for you...) and literally inviting people to gather in public settings...all while we still don't have adequate staffing, PPE, supplies, and work in abhorrent conditions.

Can you all relate? How do you cope? I feel so sad these days. I feel like I am living in a fake profession. I am having a hard time finding anyone who still takes the pandemic seriously. I want to quit and work somewhere else where the culture is better, the staff actually cares, and management is on board. Does this exist? I was recently told if I quit "the grass is not always greener on the other side". Does anyone work somewhere right now where things are not as bad, behavior-wise?

[Sour Lemon]

Lockdowns started 10 months ago where I'm at. People are tired of it. I don't care what anyone does on their personal time, as long as they're using the proper and effective precautions at work.

The social media proclamations annoy me too, but it's easy enough to log off.

[Emergent, RN]

Outgoing people are suffering a great deal under these restrictions. If what they're doing is bothering you, unfollow them on facebook and other social media and mind your own business. Otherwise you will be annoyed.

[Nunya, BSN]

You can't control what people are doing on their off time, unfortunately.  I've stopped following a few people because of this, it annoys me and it worries me because some of them are very high risk.  However, there are things you can do about the hospital sponsored group events and I'll let you figure those out yourself.  That should NOT be happening. And "outgoing people are suffering too" is a bunch of BS.  It's not like we live in the Middle Ages, we have phones, video chats, zoom etc. It's selfish people like there ones you work with that are making it even worse than it had to be, and the longer people screw around and don't follow guidelines 24/7 the more people will die.  It's terrible that healthcare personnel don't understand this and don't seem to care.

[macawake, MSN]

7 hours ago, chachanurse101 said:

Since the Summer I've had coworkers going out, posting photos, going to Disney World, clubs, meeting up with friends and family in groups...they post it all on social media and at the same time ask everyone to "mask up!" and have the "I can't stay home, I'm a nurse!" filter on their profile picture...

Not the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree, are they? 
 

7 hours ago, chachanurse101 said:

 Does anyone work somewhere right now where things are not as bad, behavior-wise?

Well, I’m in Europe and we haven’t had any kind of staff get-togethers since February. Actually not since Christmas 2019. Management takes the pandemic seriously, as does a vast majority of my coworkers. All our staff meatings are remote. Meal breaks are staggered so no one sits closer than about 3 meters ( ~10 feet) to anyone else. 
 

7 hours ago, chachanurse101 said:

I feel like I am living in a fake profession. I am having a hard time finding anyone who still takes the pandemic seriously.

That’s a bit drastic. The entire profession is hardly fake just because you work with people who appear to behave irresponsibly. Your coworkers are likely not generalizable to the entire nursing profession. 

I think many of the general public might be experiencing ”pandemic fatigue”, probably a good number of healthcare workers do as well. But as for not taking it seriously, I think most in healthcare probably do take it seriously. Hard not to when you’re subjected to its consequences each and every day. 

At the end of the day, you only have control over how you act. Since your coworkers are also educated healthcare professionals you’d think they’d know better. But for some reason they choose to not use their training or common sense when deciding on how to spend their free time. It’s their choice and there’s not much anyone can do about it. 

 

Take care! 

[caliotter3]

My employer's home care clients attempt to control my access to other clients and hamper my ability to earn a living.  Do you think I allow them to do that?  Not if I can help it.  It might not rate in the same pool as attending house parties on a voluntary basis, but I maintain precautions to my utmost ability otherwise and try to steer clear of those that I suspect gallivant around unnecessarily.

[Kitiger, RN]

1 hour ago, caliotter3 said:

My employer's home care clients attempt to control my access to other clients and hamper my ability to earn a living.  Do you think I allow them to do that?  Not if I can help it.  It might not rate in the same pool as attending house parties on a voluntary basis, but I maintain precautions to my utmost ability otherwise and try to steer clear of those that I suspect gallivant around unnecessarily.

How do they attempt to control your access? Do they insist that you work only with them?

[caliotter3]

Yes.  They insist that I work only with them.  And the agency employer waffles on telling me it is OK to lie about it.  Tell them it is none of their business, or lie about it and get caught, or foolishly comply, same result:  no work.

[caliotter3]

One of the latest clients to reject me over Covid said it is because I admitted that someone lives with me.  Really?  Now you are going to tell me to put my family out over your "need"?  Yes.  It is that stupid.  As if a person who lives alone can't have another human being walk beyond their front door, ever.

[Kitiger, RN]

Those clients need some teaching, preferably by your nursing supervisor. To wit, that there are steps that we all need to take to decrease the spread of COVID; steps for the client and steps for the nurse. The supervisor should spell out what the expectations are for the nurse.

Those steps do not include insisting that the nurse live alone and that the nurse not take care of anybody else.

Does the client not see how incredibly selfish those demands are?

The supervisor should finish by pointing out that unreasonable demands by the client will result in very few nurses available to care for them. 

[caliotter3]

It is literally asking too much for our nursing supervisors to get that involved with client education about prevention of Covid infection, or that nurses won't work when being dictated to about their work or home life, or much else for that matter.  They slam bang get the case started and then leave the nuts and bolts to the newly assigned field nurses.  Then, when things don't work out and the case leaves the agency, guess who gets blamed?  Just part of the extended care home health reality that doesn't often get discussed.

[Kitiger, RN]

I work for at least one agency where the Program Director (the person above the nursing supervisors) is very involved, up to date, and helpful. The nursing supervisors are great, too.

I must agree with you, however, that not all agencies are this good.