Quit nursing

[Dimosaur]

AIBU to want to take unpaid leave from nursing at the moment?
It would leave money really tight, but would be manageable just about financially.
I have never liked ward work, always worked in specialist departments, just preference.

The news is making my anxiety go through the roof... About littlens being poorly with it, about being redeployed, having to go on a ward with little PPE to care for suspected Covid patients, potentially bringing it home to my family.

I have an 18 month old at home, plus a high risk DH due to meds he's on.

I feel so selfish, but I just don't want to be a nurse right now!

Just to clarify, there is ppe, plenty of it.
But suspected patients, you get a normal surgical mask, not a ffp3 which properly protects you.

So in a sense, you probably are better off being in a covid confirmed area as you are properly protected.

How about trying a different route: find a place that you could go before you're pushed.

There maybe some nhs nursing jobs that you can do working from home etc that are still important.

YANBU .. I am a nurse in the frontline & I have had to take sick time off the now due to being pregnant & my work unsure if they can keep me safe. After how the nhs have treated their staff e.g PPE, pregnant workers, vulnerable staff, in relation to COVID-19 I have seriously doubted if I want to continue in this profession!

If I were a HCP in this situation I would feel the same. Totally agree with the PP about the war language and the nobility of 'sacrifice'. For years and years, staff have seen their resources and teams cut to the bone, those chickens are coming home to roost at a personal cost of those on the frontline and I can see why many would be tempted to think the same as you.

I get it. At my hospital management are directing minimal PPE where possible to save it for COVID patients but then they’re not testing everyone who comes in with symptoms so they’re potentially on wards, not on any barrier precautions at all.
It feels like we are cannon fodder and they’ve probably run some algorithm and decided they can afford to lose x number of staff due to illness or even death.

With my very recent trip to hospital I felt some strict things were in place to protect but others had me thinking er... but then maybe it isn't quite as easy to spread as I maybe worried it was.

Don't feel guilty. Most nurses have a profound sense of duty and vocation which makes it hard to walk away. I walked after 20+ years and couldnt go back. I miss it but there are lots of jobs where your skills are transferable. You have to do what's best for you and be proud of the service you've given. Good luck.

@cactus that's my problem., I don't know what else I could do.
What did you leave to do?

I’m a nurse and have got a thread running in the Coronavirus forum pretty much saying exactly as you are - that I have moments where I just want to quit and my husband is supportive of it.

Numerous nurses have posted saying they are just as scared.

The whole thing is horrible

So what would happen if every nurse quit?

So what would happen if every nurse quit?

My experience is that the nurses who want to quit are those who aren’t trained in critical care or intensive care but being sent to those units anyway and expected to get on with it without if any extra training.

The other day, a member of Band 4 staff, so not even a registered nurse, was sent to ITU to give one-to-one Care for a ventilated patient.

I imagine that the nurses who are competent in looking after ventilated patients and work in critical care and ITU are not considering quitting because they are working within their capabilities and in their own familiar environments and have extensive knowledge on how to safely care for the patients.

Sending untrained nurses to look after critically ill patients when they have no experience of critical care or ventilators etc is not right. It is the fact that nurses are being forced to work like this, including without having correct PPE, is why a lot of nurses are frightened and want to quit.

So what would happen if every nurse quit?

Doctors would have to change their ways of doing, HCAs would be forced to step and a lot chaos and likely death would reign.

But...maybe, nursing would become a higher paid profession with better working conditions and more resources as an outcome. Nurses have been taken for granted massively.
After all, it's a vocation, nurses don't need proper PPE, a competitive wage, and good working conditions, they'll do it anyway for the love of helping the sick!

So what would happen if every nurse quit?

Hopefully a massive inquiry into the reasons why, then followed by improvements in the future. A realisation that any old bod off the street cannot just ‘do’ nursing without any training. A modicum of respect for care work in general. You might claim to nurses/HCA’s etc but plenty are very demeaning towards us and dismissive of our skills.

Op Im in exactly the same position as you. In a specialist role and about to be deployed back into a ward and one of my young children has an underlying health condition in the high risk category. Occupation health were not interested - I was told it's not a reason and I can be sent where ever. I've looked at moving out but there's nowhere for me to go. I won't put my child at risk though.

I am a hca working in a small community hospital with a lot of covid patients who are very poorly but not for resus. I am terrified, as a hca we are responsible for practically all direct patient care so have the most contact with the patients yet we are paid the least and expected to use a surgical mask, plastic apron, visors and gloves. Exposed arms and hair although we have taken to using the kitchen hair nets just so we feel at least a little bit more covered. I have small children at home and have absolutely no choice not to do it or I will lose my job. I look at the other HCA’s, some are in their late 50’s and 60’s and I am so scared for them being put at risk in this way. I wish I could leave....but for some reason I feel a duty, more to my colleagues than to the patients to be honest. I am fully expecting to get it, I just hope when I do it won’t be too bad. I have made a will 😰.

So what would happen if every nurse quit?

Many more nurses than people probably realise are seriously thinking about it. I am 61 and started as a student nurse in 1977. I worked through some of the worst years of the Troubles in a Belfast hospital as a young nurse. This Covid crisis in something else entirely, so yes I may well choose to call it a day on a much loved career.

On another thread teachers are complaining about not being paid extra money to work on a rota over easter to look after keyworkers children.
(teachers do get fully paid holidays).

For me that put everything about a lifelong healthcare career into perspective. Healthcare workers of all grades are expected to struggle on with long shifts and if needed, bring potential infections home to their own families. Many others who could quite realistically help, are simply quite content to hide at home and leave us to get on with it.

QueenofmyPrinces

DD works in A&E. They receive potential Covid patients from the ambulance service and have inadequate PPE. Many really ill people coming through and many are tubed in A&E. The staff are highly vulnerable in that situation and those who have vulnerable family members are more worried.

The same goes for nurses and other staff who work in acute medical admissions areas. Patients who are not ill enough yet for ICU are coughing all over the staff with inadequate PPE. I may be wrong, but I believe the nurses who have died so far worked in acute medical wards.

What about 111? They are desperate for registered nurses here.

@SummerBreezemakesmefeelfine
Why on Earth are teachers relevant to this thread? Teachers have absolutely nothing to do with this thread. The jobs are not comparable whatsoever.
However, as you’ve dragged it in and quoted incorrect rubbish.

to clarify;
Teachers do not get paid holidays.
Teachers are paid for 32.5 hours per week, 39 weeks per year.
That pay is spread out over 52 weeks.

Honestly op I wouldn't blame you. I work as a carer and the usual...well you don't go into for the money. Clap clap you're a martyr just isn't for me. I didn't sign up for this. I'm not prepared to risk mine and my families health for thanks and poor pay. Luckily it's not come that. I'm in supported living services and the risk is pretty low for now. However should that change I won't be continuing.

Don’t be hard on yourself. You have to take care of yourself and your family. It’s very scary and I am not surprised that you feel this way.

I’d absolutely put my family first. Not unreasonable at all OP.

I've been asked to go back to ITU after 8 years away!
Offered 3 days update and 2 shadowing shifts
So they really will be taking anyone

I refused due to asthma and ptsd

I'll now be swabbing in the community

No one knows how they would feel in our situation OP
We didn't sign up for this death warrant
We do not want to put our lives at risk
We do not want to leave our children orphans

Don't feel guilty, once this goes back to normal no one will give a shit about nurses or that we haven't had a pay rise for years

I'm a junior doctor on covid wards now. It's heartbreaking. I was requisitioned to this, from another speciality.

There is no guarantee that you too would be requisitioned to covid wards, and in my experience those with vulnerable relatives have been asked to speak to management in confidence so they can be deployed elsewhere. Hotel accommodation is also available for free, if you would prefer to stay away from your family to protect them.

Nurses are still needed for other areas of the hospital currently.

I find the current situation really difficult, but wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of not working, when I know that the need is so great. I also have young children, like you.

In your situation I would talk to management to find a role that suits your circumstances. They would rather have you working in a role.

Thanks for all your replies. I've got over my little wobble now the plan seems clearer at work.
I'm staying in my department working 8-2 Monday to Friday for now covering urgent procedures only.

I'll go to the wards if I reslly have to, but for now actually the wards are over staffed as they've shut many outpatient clinics and redeployed, and they are keeping people Out the hospital unless they really need to be there!

I think management are gearing up for a big outbreak but I don't think it'll be that bad.
Our hospital has 60 something Confirmed and 30 something waiting results.
In a 500 bed hospital. Don't think that's too bad!