Work - Hospice Nursing in a Pandemic.

 March - September 2020

March - My family and I were self-isolating, my daughter had a sore throat and high temperature. Coronavirus was taking hold in our nation. My job as a palliative care staff nurse about to change forever. 

In the early days of the Coronavirus Pandemic, things happened quickly. Government guidelines changed daily, managers in all health organisations struggled to keep up with the daily changes, information was disseminated as soon as it was digested but it was fast paced and ever changing. The aim to protect both patients and staff became priority. It seems strange now, but at that point wearing face masks was not an expectation unless a patient was showing symptoms of a high temperature or cough – that soon changed of course. But those first two weeks meant that the virus took it's opportunity and spread quickly through staff members and some patients. This wasn’t to last though; we caught up, we cleaned, swabbed, isolated and became a Covid free Hospice in record time. This wasn’t without casualties.

By nature, a hospice’s patients do not have a long life expectancy, they are often living out their final months, weeks or days of life, struggling daily with symptoms both physical and emotional. We, as palliative and end of life care nurses, try our very best to help them combat these struggles. I like the analogy that a palliative care nurse is like a midwife, helping people at the other end of life, each role there to create a smooth passage and comforting reassurance through one of life’s two toughest journeys. It is during these months and weeks preceding ‘death’ that ‘life’ becomes more focused, ‘Love’ becomes more important and ‘family’ becomes everything. Our patients who contracted Coronavirus on top of their already life-limiting diseases had this time cut short. There wasn’t time for family, there wasn’t space for love. Our doors had to close, survival was at the fore. There and then the colour seemed to drain out of our beautiful Hospice. 

The cost of the ‘closed door’ remains to be seen. The fallout of grief of children missing parents’ last moments, of husbands and wives trying to cram the last 50 years of love into a half hour visit, or dear friends who have been more than family to someone will leave its scar forever. The pain caused, we nurses will never fully see; but it is a pain we all feel on their behalf. Yes, in the early days of this pandemic some of our patients died early, earlier than planned. Coronavirus was too much for their already frail bodies to cope with , it asked too much of them, we lost them too soon. This makes me sad. We couldn’t buy them that time. The colour that comes into a hospice through love is abundant. families, friends, flowers, volunteers, fundraisers, well wishers, the list is endless. It’s what makes a ‘Hospice a Home’ for patients and their families, as they negotiate this final journey.

Hospice nursing is a bleaker place at this time. Rarely mentioned in the media, a feeling that we’ve slipped through the net, carried on un-noticed. The whole team, nurses, doctors, therapists and support staff feel it. But we keep trying, keep trying to maintain some ‘colour’, to create love and laughter to fill these huge gaps that this disease has created. There is not a part of society unaffected, for the time being this is how things have to be. Everyone will keep on working and working to get things back to normal, but this is demanding a lot in circumstances that are out of our control. Nurses are tired, frustrated, at times we are sad. But we will keep going and one day the colour will be back in our beautiful Hospice. 

As nurses, we are called to constantly ’reflect’ on our practice, to see what we could have done better, to acknowledge what we did well. This, never more important than in the changing times we are living in now. So, for the sake of reflection to all my colleagues, I think we have our nursing ‘values’ – (the six C’s) well covered during the last 6 months - Care, Compassion, Competence, Communication, Courage and definitely this one - COMMITMENT.

I’m proud of us all.

Comments

  1. Jen, this is beautiful!!! Keep writing! You have such an incredible gift. Thank you for all that you do, you ARE appreciated. Love you. xx

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  2. A very thought provoking reflection on an incredibly difficult time. The absence of families from hospices put even more strain on the nurses and health care staff, who became the only contact the patients had. Great writing, full of emotion.

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  3. Beautiful & powerful words, Jen thank you . You are a very talented lady & true inspiration in your work & faith x

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  4. An emotional read and beautifully written, I would crumble in your shoes.
    Im truly grateful for you, your team and beyond.
    Keep writing you talented wonderful lady xx

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