GOMERSOWNER2

I too feel that we should receive hazard/incentive pay. Last week a nurse in my unit showed me an ad for travel nurses at MY hospital for $2.5/week..it's not near as much as I've seen in other states, but it certainly caught my attention. Especially when 2 new travelers came up to me for their assignment last Friday at the triage drive thru screening area. Then it really hit me that I was working in a hot zone making my regular ICU pay, and they were making much more than I was; it made me start wondering what it was going to take for my hospital to finally give us some sort of hazard/incentive pay....not holding my breath though

Per my hospital's press release we have '2 confirmed COVID-19 patients'. But there at least a dozen more who are very probably positive but the tests have not come back yet. We have had no deaths yet. And, that was the situation as of last Friday when I got off at 7PM after working triage in the drive through screening. There were several folk on Friday afternoon at the screening who showed fever & respiratory symptoms and were tested-of course those tests are not back either. My next door neighbor works nights at my hospital and we both have seen at least 7 patients in an old unit that has been designated as a unit to care for suspected/confirmed covid patients. We have been told there will be an additional covid unit opened by the week's end. I feel my hospital is not being candid with the public as to how many potentially positive cases we have. I also am concerned that many in my area have come in contact with at least one of the positive cases; we asked if they had been in our unit, but we were told they couldn't tell us because it would be a HIPAA violation. I get that-we did not want names, procedure, etc only if they were in our unit which we're pretty d*** certain they were. So we go about our work not sure if or when we were infected all the time knowing if we haven't been infected yet we soon will be what with the dreadful lack of PPE. We also are being told by our hospital as so many have that we will not be supplied with N95's unless it is during an intubation, suctioning, other aerosol releasing procedure. We will be using surgical masks as I'm sure a lot of you have also been told. Our N95 masks are LOCKED up. I am almost 63 and in pretty good health except for some orthopedic issues, (recent avulsion fracture L foot; sever plantar fasciitis R foot & recent R total knee...let's just say I walk like a drunk sailor!), and I am wearing an event monitor for the next 3 weeks for intermittent A-fib/PVC'S). When - not if - I care for a covid patient I would really like, and I feel I require a N95 due to my age and possible heart issues. I do not think I will get one, but I will ask for one verbally and via email. I strongly suspect I will be taking care of covid patients by the end of this week, and it would make me feel much less anxious if I had a N95 -but so would we all. Over the weekend we were informed that codes, (I'm guessing any code-need to see if they can clarify that), would be conducted differently now: only the charge nurse would be given a N95 mask for the purpose of starting the code while awaiting the code team. That nurse is to put a surgical mask on the patient, (who is coding...hmmm....); one additional nurse with a surgical mask on would place and hold the face mask connected to the Ambu bag on the patient and turn the O2 to 15L. Then the charge nurse is to start chest compressions-NO USE OF THE AMBU BAG--no 'bagging'...wait for the code team, (hope they are not busy or far away - the hospital is a quite large teaching facility). The crash cart is to be left outside the room - even when the code team arrives. We will only be allowed to take the AED in. So, yeah, that's my hospital. Administration is being evasive about cases of covid, is subjecting us to be more easily exposed to the virus, and is deciding that all the ACLS protocols need to be changed during this crisis