Has anyone left nursing job due to COVID19 virus?

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I am curious to find out if anyone has decided to leave their current job due to the risk of this virus? I work in the Emergency Department and we are now being asked to reuse PPE and to prepare for a surge of COVID 19 patients. This makes me sick to my stomach and concerned for my co workers, other patients along with the risk we bring home to our own families.

Specializes in Cardiology, Research, Family Practice.

To those whose hospitals say they are not allowed to wear masks:

Wear one anyway, even if you have to furnish your own.

If you are disciplined/fired/whatever, call the news. And a lawyer.

Perhaps I'm naive, but I believe that very soon we will have an abundance of masks and other PPE. By then, most of the entire country will have been exposed so the point may be moot anyway.

BUT! We will never forget! Our hospitals do not care about us. We already knew it, and they just proved it. That is the inarguable truth.

Assuming we all have been or will be exposed, I am preparing myself for the inevitability that I will get the virus. But I believe I am healthy enough that I will be OK. If you feel otherwise about your health, then I recommend staying home.

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On 3/25/2020 at 8:09 PM, kailaniRN said:

As a PRN Nurse in Ambulatory Surgery no work, closed for elective surgery but when our facility is reconfigured for covid19 I bet they will be happy to take me back without benefits let alone pto. Have lymphoma in remission and am 60 yo. I fear a mandatory recall. Is this possible?

No it is not. They don’t own you just because you have a license.

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Specializes in Occupational Health; Adult ICU.
On 3/26/2020 at 9:02 PM, Nurselexii said:

Your hospital is very risky

Or....... the hospital's supply of masks will be exhausted in one single day, when 100+ patients show up in a week or two, every day, day after day. Each coughing...

"Triage is the process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition or likelihood of recovery with and without treatment."

While triage usually relates to patient care, it can also relate to the usage of supplies and materials. If one mask is worn for one day, it is supposed to be disposed. If the entire supply of N95 masks consist of 1,000 and no more are available, and 100 nurses use one a day for a week... Do the math.

Take your state's exponential infection curve...extrapolate it. Cases often are doubling every 3 days. Got one or two or four cases...extrapolate it out one month (10 iterations). Then fold back in the numerical need for respiratory protection at the end of the month. This may be the reason that the hospital does not want you wearing masks today.

It's not really about "we don't want to protect you," I suspect in most cases it's "we're about to be over-run by thousands of enemies and all we have are a few boxes of bullets, so don't hand them out 'till we can see the white's of the enemies eyes.."

Admittedly, it seems that there is a universal horrendous lack of transparency and communication. If the above scenario fits the bill......then come out with it. Honesty will reap rewards and courage--dishonesty will reap ruination.

The one thing that sickens me most about this whole scenario is the overt obfuscation, to the point of dishonesty. On January 30th I wrote to my two senators asking that protective actions be taken, no answer. I wrote later to my senators and congresswoman, no answer. I for one am disgusted.

When nurses lose trust, when we come to believe we are not being told the truth--terrible will be the results.

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16 hours ago, sammi2006 said:

I have a history of cancer and low wbcs since I finished treatment 2 years ago. Since my unit was closed I got a CBC day before yesterday and it showed my wbcs were lower than normal and that I am neutropenic, so I am on mloa as requested by my oncologist. I feel really guilty about this because I want to be able to help during this time, but I dont want to get sick either.

Yes, stay away! Please do not feel guilty... Nursing will be around forever. This is not something you want to take a risk with... Remember the most stable people that may be coming in for something completely not Covid related are sometimes testing positive.

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8 hours ago, LPN Retired said:

The hospital should let you stay there. Wouldn't there be an empty room,

somewhere?

No, no, no, bad idea. Do not sleep over at the hospital! Please no.

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Specializes in Occupational Health; Adult ICU.
On 3/27/2020 at 6:43 PM, Floor_Nurse said:

Not so fast! I'm going to wait until things with this Corona beer smooth over before I put my resume out there. I'm trying to let my job history look like I'm not just job-hopping.

Uh...just how much "time" do you think you have? As a kid, I'd put my ear to the train track and sure enough you could hear the sound of an oncoming freight train as much as five minutes away (going about 40mph).

There are no freight rails near me but I can watch the charts at:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

I can hear the rumble of an oncoming train full of Covid-19 cases... In some areas it'll be this or next week, in others 3-4 weeks. But that train is a'heading right this way, and moving at quite the steady pace.

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Specializes in Occupational Health; Adult ICU.
On 3/28/2020 at 7:45 AM, NurseBlaq said:

This is the problem! They don't send firefighters into burning buildings without masks and waterless hoses. They don't send police to armed bank robberies with toothpicks. They don't send military into combat without weapons. Why are nurses expected to treat patients in a highly contagious pandemic without protective gear?

I agree with all you say. However, actually, there have been instances when military was sent to the front without weapons. When Germany invaded France at the beginning of WWII each truck had two rifles and ten rounds of ammunition and that's for everyone in that truck.

France was quickly over-run. (Apocalypse-The Second World War - S01E01 - Aggression)

There are numerous other similar war-time scenarios. The problem here is we never signed on as military yet here we are, on the cusp of what is essentially a war-time footing.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
23 hours ago, sammi2006 said:

I have a history of cancer and low wbcs since I finished treatment 2 years ago. Since my unit was closed I got a CBC day before yesterday and it showed my wbcs were lower than normal and that I am neutropenic, so I am on mloa as requested by my oncologist. I feel really guilty about this because I want to be able to help during this time, but I dont want to get sick either.

Lose the guilt. You can provide the best help by not tying up an ICU bed yourself.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
On 3/25/2020 at 6:30 PM, PeachyERNurse said:

I'm seriously considering it now that my hospital is forbidding us from wearing masks unless we’re caring directly for confirmed COVID patients.

And how do they KNOW who is positive and who is negative before testing is completed!? Talk about taking a chance...I would not work under those circumstances. If you can afford to, get the hell out of there before you come down with the virus and take it home to your loved ones. I wish you the very best of luck. These are hard times for everyone. Stay safe!

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Not sure what I am looking for here. I know I am grateful for the anonymity. Why? Because I am so ashamed. I feel guilty. I feel anxiety and loss of sleep because I am questioning my purpose. I work as a contingent float nurse for a large health system, multiple sites, all getting hit very hard. We are on target to become the next US epicenter. I have not worked since early March. My husband is a frontline worker and we have 3 small children, one with asthma. As the governor pleads for volunteers and workers, I feel as though I am not doing my part. I feel pain and fear for my nursing community, but am putting my family first.

I do not have faith in the recommendations provided by the CDC that are created based on lack of supplies. I do not have faith in a healthcare system that doesn’t want us to wear any type of protection (no homemade masks allowed yet) when dealing with any patient/ the assumed healthy population.


I am a darn good nurse, I care greatly and work hard, but this....THIS, I am having a hard time defining myself as a nurse right now. Mother, wife,...coward.


I might quit. I am not sure, I have a few weeks to pray for more supplies and strength. I would love to be considered one of the heroes, but not a martyr.And sending my kids to stay with someone else is not an option at this point, as my husband has been working.

Thanks for reading.
God bless everyone

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Specializes in Dialysis.
On 3/28/2020 at 2:49 PM, MaineRn1230 said:

Anthem in particular is really drying up, and I am wondering if that is because they are expecting to get hit hard with medical claims...

Many are taking these jobs so that they can at least not have to be at risk on the front lines

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Specializes in Medical Hematology/Oncology/Stem Cell Transplant.

I have been thinking about quitting healthcare altogether the past few weeks ? In all seriousness, I was considering moving to outpt the past month. I’m working night shift inpt and it takes a toll on my body. I’m kinda burned out when I work inpt too (has been doing inpt for almost 3 yrs), so I thought moving to outpt with a reg schedule (no night/weekends/holidays) may be a better gig. But yeah after this pandemic is over I don’t even know if I want to even work in healthcare anymore, but the sad thing is I don’t know what else I could do, so I guess I’ll work outpt if I can secure a job.

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