I'm Done

[PMFB-RN]

The medium-sized hospital (275 beds) where I work only has one ICU. But thanks to the unvaxxed we have had to open another ICU for COVID patients again.

We first did this last Winter and it was awful, but it was nobody's fault. Now it is.

We are keeping our COVID ICU open by nurses working overtime. Many have been working five or six 12 to 16-hour shifts a week for months now. People's lives are falling apart. In the last year, two of our ICU nurses have committed suicide. I don't know everything that was going on in their lives, but I'm quite certain that working long hard hours for months, never being home, having no downtime to relax and recharge has a LOT to do with it.

We actually had more COVID patients last Winter, but they were older and not as sick. Like 70s and 80s, vs now it's people in their 50s-60s and they are MUCH sicker. They die like flies. We had a 31-year-old die, and several in their 40s. One died and after to code the doc called and informed her family, but somehow her two teenage daughters who were en route to the hospital didn't get the message and I had to tell them. I'm noticing signs of PTSD in our ICU nurses who are, for the most part, young people. Most are in their 20's. To work so hard taking care of their patients for weeks only to have them die is soul-destroying. I zipped nine people into body bags over the weekend. 

Long planned vacations have been canceled, nurses are losing touch with their families and support systems.

I've spent a lot of time and energy talking to people about COVID and vaccines. I've provided them with the latest data and evidence. I've related what it's like for hospital patients with COVID. But it's a waste of time and effort so I'm done with it. 

Everyone who isn't stupid is already vaccinated and that just leaves the stupid, and you can't fix stupid. I'll no longer refute disinformation with accurate information, just point out they are liars and move on.

My goal is no longer to convince people to get vaccinated. Now my goal is to identify as many of them as possible so that I can do everything in my power to ensure they are never given a position of responsibility again.

I've already started asking those I do business with about their vaccination status. Unvaxxed or refuse to answer and I'm done with them. My mechanic got vaccinated. I had to switch to another (vaccinated) barber. I spoke at two of my local school board meetings in favor of masking the students (including my children) and requiring vaccinations of all staff. I let them know I would be filing a lawsuit if they failed to do either. Luckily they did both.

[LisaNICUrn, BSN]

On 10/23/2021 at 5:32 PM, toomuchbaloney said:

Says who?

Oh gee. How about HIPAA? 

[LisaNICUrn, BSN]

Everyone has a right to choose what they put in their body. Your vaccine? That doesn't even last 6 months before you need a "booster" because you're no longer protected? Or the chance of you having a severe adverse reaction to the vaccine vs the chance of getting covid? I'll take the chance of possibly getting covid and the unknown consequences of what it will do to my body vs knowingly putting something in my body that is still being researched, is being stopped in other countries because of their side effects, will require a "booster" every few months because it doesn't last that long, and I have no idea what it will do to me. My health will always come first and I will NEVER feel guilty for that, nor will I let anyone guilt me into getting the vaccine before I feel it is safe to take. I hope the barber you dropped is singing praises that someone like you is no longer sitting in their chair. 

   The fact that I'm seeing registered nurses on this site blatantly say they see people and hear they are unvaccinated and hope they die!! What?!? Are you kidding me? Do you feel that way about overweight people who still eat that fast food and ice cream and end up in DKA and lose a leg? Do you say that to the older generation who ends up in the ICU because they didn't get their Flu shot for the season and has the flu? 

  At the end of the day, when I take off my stethoscope, I still have to protect myself! I will not take something because I have RN at the end of my name simply because the government or my hospital tells me to. I teach my patients about doing their own research, about informed consent, about their rights as a patient, and I will do the same when it comes to my health as well. 

  I have done my own research, I am not anti-vax. But I have questions on this vaccine, It doesn't stop anyone from getting covid, and it doesn't stop anyone from spreading it, so why would I chance taking a brand new vaccine. Not only new vaccine, but mRNA technology is new. Sure, it's been around a while, yep! But it has never been used because all their test subjects (I.e rats) die. Every single one. So forgive me for not trusting something that hasn't been properly researched? There were no human trials before it was given to millions of people at the same time.  What will happen to people in 2 years? In 5 years? How often will we need boosters? Every 6 months (or 2 months for the J&J vaccine) for how long? 

   This thread has disgusted me, and I pray my family members are never taken care of from some of you. You all need to learn compassion and acceptance again, realize even nurses are entitled to their own medical decisions. The hospital wouldn't be in such dire circumstances if they weren't firing nurses for not getting the vaccine. Why don't you blame them for firing your help? Then they bring in the national guard? You know they don't have to be vaccinated until at least the beginning of the year right? So you're still stuck with unvaccinated people. opps. 

[toomuchbaloney]

31 minutes ago, LisaNICUrn said:

Oh gee. How about HIPAA? 

"Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule prohibit businesses or individuals from asking whether their customers or clients have received a COVID-19 vaccine?

No. The Privacy Rule2 does not prohibit any person (e.g., an individual or an entity such as a business), including HIPAA covered entities and business associates, from asking whether an individual has received a particular vaccine, including COVID-19 vaccines.

First, the Privacy Rule3 applies only to covered entities4 (health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers that conduct standard electronic transactions) and, to some extent, their business associates.5

Second, the Privacy Rule does not regulate the ability of covered entities and business associates to request information from patients or visitors. Rather, the Privacy Rule regulates how and when covered entities and business associates are permitted to use6 and disclose7 protected health information8 (PHI) (e.g., PHI about whether an individual has received a COVID-19 vaccine) that covered entities and business associates create, receive, maintain, or transmit."

https://www.hhs.gov/HIPAA/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/HIPAA-covid-19-vaccination-workplace/index.html

Says who, again?

[Hoosier_RN, MSN]

On 10/22/2021 at 11:51 AM, bluescrubs said:

If there is only 6 ICU beds in the whole state then it sounds like a state of emergency and there needs to be some arrangements made. Working 5 to 6 days or nights straight is too much to ask for staff. I've done it before when I was staff with my PRN jobs ( my choice to work so much as I needed to get some things done financially). It does put major stress on your body. I'm not sure how I survived. The last assignment I was at the hospital and surrounding area was overrun with Covid patients. One nurse had 4 out of her 5 patients die in one day. By the end of the shift she was in tears. As nurses we need to stand up. Demand the hospital get some outside help so nurses are not burning themselves into the ground. 

Many are using high $$$ agency nurses, but there are only so many of those to go around as well

[Queen Tiye, RN]

I wonder how many unvaccinated, critically ill Covid patients aren’t getting the care they deserve.  It never occurred to me that this could be an issue until reading this thread.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

7 hours ago, LisaNICUrn said:

   This thread has disgusted me, and I pray my family members are never taken care of from some of you. 

I've read this thread and I haven't seen where the unvaccinated are not getting the care they need and deserve, just that they were stressing out the hospital system and overwhelming the nursing staff to the point of burnout, depression and suicide.  

Yes, there is anger against the unvaccinated, but that doesn't mean they aren't getting our best...the same as other patients that cause their own misery through lifestyle.  We're here for them all.

I eliminated your "I'm not anti-vax, but I've done my research" tirade as it's a bit repetitive of many I've seen and you're entitled to feel how you do.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

That is an interesting approach to support vaccinated businesses.  I do know that my barber is vaccinated, and all of my social group is vaccinated.  All my relatives are vaccinated.  

I'm really sorry you're going through this.  Florida is now pretty much done with the delta variant and hospitalizations have dropped as dramatically as they have risen and I do hope the same happens there. 

In 2021 I did about 15 weeks of overtime and came as close to burning out as I ever have in my career but made a boatload of money.  The money isn't worth your health, family life, and mental well being.

All the best.

[bluescrubs, ADN, ASN, RN]

25 minutes ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Many are using high $$$ agency nurses, but there are only so many of those to go around as well

Trust me, if the money is good enough people will come out of retirement and the shadows for it. If a hospital is paying 8k for 3 or 4 days, best believe I'm there no matter how s****y it is because I know it'll only last 13 weeks... Or the hospital can treat their nurses like they are the backbone of the hospital since we are, give us competitive wages, uninterrupted lunch breaks, charge nurses and CNAs staffed on the floor, retention bonuses for the loyal ones that stayed, hazard pay for the covid floors, etc. Of course this is the ideal hospital that doesn't exist. I know everyday at work isn't going to be perfect but having a charge nurse and enough CNA's to help out truly makes a huge difference. Hiring travel nurses is just putting a band aid on a the situation. We need to fix the source of the problem. Once I saw how good travel was, there is no incentive for me to be staff. Even when the travel money isn't as lucrative as it is now and I settle down I want to have 2 PRN jobs in corrections or psych or a mix of both. That way I make my own schedule, I won't have to deal with the drama of being staff and just clock in, do my job and leave. Bedside really isn't where its at. It's a good foundation for nursing skills and knowledge but not something long-term unless management makes some radical changes.

[toomuchbaloney]

31 minutes ago, bluescrubs said:

Trust me, if the money is good enough people will come out of retirement and the shadows for it.

Speak for yourself.  

There's no amount of money that would bring me out of early retirement to work in a pandemic like this one.  

[2BS Nurse, BSN]

"I wonder how many unvaccinated, critically ill Covid patients aren’t getting the care they deserve.  It never occurred to me that this could be an issue until reading this thread".

I've wondered about this prior to the pandemic for various reasons of prejudice... race, religion, obesity, addiction, political affiliation etc, etc. I don't think ANY critically ill patients are getting the care they deserve right now because of staffing issues, medication shortages, I could go on and on.

I don't always agree with my patients choices (I work with a lot of diabetics), but I try to be just when providing care.

[toomuchbaloney]

2 hours ago, Queen Tiye said:

I wonder how many unvaccinated, critically ill Covid patients aren’t getting the care they deserve.  It never occurred to me that this could be an issue until reading this thread.

Most people hospitalized today are likely not getting the care they deserve because unvaccinated covid patients are consuming the majority of the health care resources in poorly vaccinated regions across the country. Let's not even consider the patients who need to access acute care but cannot because unvaccinated covid patients have occupied the acute beds and staffing resources.  

[renatanada]

Diabetics, obese, drug addicts, etc. aren't HURTING OTHERS with their poor decisions. There's a big difference. Nurses are allowed to not agree with or even like their patients. But nobody here is saying they aren't providing fair and "just" care to anyone. If any patient moans about bad hospital food or their treatment... we  try to make them comfortable. We're all doing our best. Unfortunately hospitals are not the Four Seasons. And nurses should not be patient servants OR PATIENT MOMMIES. 

Personally, I think people who refuse the vaccine don't have any business working in healthcare. We practice evidence-based medicine. Not facebook-based medicine. This is your chosen profession. Don't believe in it? Leave the profession. Gotta wonder how these people even passed the NCLEX...