The Record Special Sections Health Quarterly 04-26-2020 | Page 4
4 ❚ SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2020 ❚ THE RECORD
HEALTH QUARTERLY / ADVERTISING SECTION
Medical Workers Face the Strain of the Pandemic
D
octors and nurses are trained to
deal with life-and-death situations,
to be calm in the face of crisis. But
whether it’s in hard-hit New York
or places where COVID-19 has yet to surge,
medical workers say the pandemic is strain-
ing their mental health like nothing before.
“The stress is probably 100 times what
you could have imagined it was in the
past,” said Judy Davidson, a nurse scien-
tist at University of California, San Diego
Health. Davidson, whose research shows
nurses were at higher risk for suicide than
the general population even before the
coronavirus struck, said delivering psycho-
logical support to health care workers will
be as crucial as providing protective gear.
Stories from some of those on the front
lines make clear why.
“To me, it’s almost like going into a
battlefield, where every enemy is a sniper,”
said Poppy Strochine, a nurse in Cincinnati.
“You don’t see him. You don’t know where
it’s going to come from. And you don’t have
the supplies that you need to keep yourself
safe to actually do the battle.”
As a wound care specialist, she visits
people in home after home, unsure of
what they might have been exposed to.
Strochine has yet to encounter a case of
COVID-19 — that she knows of. But “I’m
right up against the patient dealing with the
wounds. If they cough or sneeze or even
touch me, I’m infected.”
The coronavirus, she said, “basically
puts you on an island where you are there
by yourself.”
She particularly misses the physical
touch of her family. “I really can’t do that.
Because at any point in time, you don’t
know if you’ve got it. And to pass it along to
them — I’d never forgive myself.”
Dr. Mitchell Elkind, professor of
neurology and epidemiology at Columbia
University in New York City, has seen
the strain.
Much of it stems from uncertainty about
how to fight the illness, said Dr. Elkind,
president-elect of the American Heart
Association. “We are constantly learning
and updating our recommendations, and
I think that makes people a bit uncomfort-
able.”
Dr. Elkind also worries about exposing
his family to the virus. He’s careful about
changing out of his scrubs at the office and
showering as soon as he gets home. But he
wonders, “Is that overkill? Is it not enough?
Should I be staying in a hotel instead of
going home? These are the kinds of deci-
sions that we’re making without very much
information at all.”
And he’s concerned about the doctor
trainees whose careers have been put on
hold as they are pressed into service. “It’s
interrupted their lives,” he said. “And hope-
fully, they don’t end up paying for it
with their lives.”
Strochine, the wound care nurse, finds
solace in humor, and in getting out to the
creek near her house. “I’ll sit beside the
creek for hours on end and just meditate
and relax. And that seems to help.”
She and Dr. Elkind said people can
support medical workers by doing some-
thing simple: staying home.
“It’s so hard to conceive of how stay-
ing at home is a benefit, because you feel
like you’re not doing anything,” Dr. Elkind
said. “People want to get out there and
do something positive. They don’t want to
stay back and not do something. But in this
case, the paradox is that staying home and
staying away from people really is of great
benefit.”
For information, email [email protected].
— Provided by American Heart
Association News
Nurses: Rising to the Highest Levels of the Profession
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF HUMC
Dianne Aroh, MS, RN, FACHE, NEA-BC,
executive vice president, chief clinical
and patient care officer at Hackensack
University Medical Center, left, and the
nursing team have been working around-
the-clock during the COVID-19 pandemic.
volunteered for COVID-19 assignments. It’s
a new world out there, she said. “You don’t
go to nursing school preparing for battle.
You think you will [be safe and] get to go
home each day.”
COVID-19 might be new, but nonetheless,
nurses have the same “moral and ethical
obligation” as always, said Van Dyk. “You
go into this profession knowing there is
going to be good and bad. You can’t pick
and choose.” Burke has been touched by
the dedication of nurses who have returned
to work after recovering from the virus.
“Nurses are coming back as quickly as they
can. They get it.”
“Our nurses are the backbone of the
frontline care team,” said Dianne Aroh,
MS, RN, FACHE, NEA-BC, executive vice
president and chief clinical and patient care
officer of Hackensack University Medical
Center. “We are serving a population that is
among the most impacted by this pandem-
ic, and we have responded with the same
collaborative, creative and heroic spirit
that we consistently demonstrate. This is
evidenced by our swift action in converting
over a dozen units that are now solely
designated for treating COVID-19 patients.”
Never has it been more obvious that
nurses have an incomparable role in patient
care that requires a distinctive repertoire
of abilities. “The unique set of challenges
COVID-19 has presented demands that we
rise to the highest levels of our profession,
and that is exactly what our nurses have
done,” said Aroh.
PHOTO COURTESY OF VALLEY HEALTH SYSTEM
Jennifer Esposito, patient care associate,
assists Caitlin Burke, manager, Patient
Care Services, in donning her personal
protective equipment as she prepares to
care for patients being treated at Valley
Hospital for infection with COVID-19.
All three hospitals hold the gold standard
of Magnet designation, for which they have
qualified by meeting stringent require-
ments established by the American Nurses
Credentialing Center. The word “Magnet”
reflects an organization’s ability to attract
superior nurses.
“Our Magnet recognition illustrates that
our nurses are lifelong learners, commu-
nity advocates, missionaries and mentors
all within their area of specialty practice,”
said Aroh. Preparation is essential. Nurses
undertake the rigors of specialized learning
and highly regarded certifications. “I am
proud that a large majority of our nurses
providing direct care have earned at least a
BSN, and that they continue to earn nation-
al certifications each year.”
From managers to staff nurses, leader-
ship, critical thinking and problem-solving
skills are among the valued assets nurses
bring to the forefront in the treatment of
COVID-19 patients. They make many, many
decisions of varying degrees of conse-
quence, using skills acquired in school and
honed through experience. At the bedside,
nurses are the eyes and ears of the physi-
cians, with whom they serve as partners.
“There never has been a disease like
this,” said Burke. “It’s not just the hospital.
It is the whole world.” As experts struggle
to develop treatment, nurses on the ground
are multi-tasking in a way most people
cannot fully appreciate. “Every part of their
[a patient’s] body is affected by the disease,”
said Van Dyk, who offers both encourage-
ment and advice when given a forum.
“We are doing everything we can, and
we are working hard.” Be part of the
COVID-19 response team, she urges. “Take
this seriously — stay home.” Indeed, it is
a small price to pay in support of frontline
nurses around the world.
The roster of other northern New Jersey
Magnet hospitals includes: Englewood Health,
Morristown Medical Center (Atlantic Health
System), St. Joseph’s University Medical
Center (includes St. Joseph’s Children’s
Hospital), and St. Barnabas Medical Center
(RWJ Barnabas Health).