Two nurses in Groote Schuur Hospital's ICU Covid Ward,
Verna Collins and Judith Parenzee, share their experiences :
“We used to have 6 beds in here, now we're sitting with 18 beds in the unit that I'm currently working in, we've only had one patient that's actually left. The turnover is so bad. We've been admitting constantly, it just goes on and on and on.
The thing that I can't handle the most is the families not being involved with the patients, especially if they are at their end. How do you communicate that?
With the normal respiratory patients that we used to have you have a rapport with them because you meet their family, especially if they are long-stay. So now that part is totally taken away because you don't have any connection with the family. It's only a phone and then you don't know who you're talking to on the other side.
So now what they do, the families, is they video call. If the patient’s doing well then it's okay then at least they can see progress. If they’re dying how do you video call the family? The family wants to see their relative. You can tell them the patient is ventilated, the patient is sedated but to physically get a picture and see all the tubes – they don't even recognise the person that's lying there. This is the worst part for me.
And there's no time for us to make that connection with patients because of the workload. It's like a machine, you work from bed to bed to bed, then you go back to the beginning, so the norm that we knew as nurses and the contact we had with patients is no longer there because you won't get through the day's work, it's crazy. None of the patients can communicate, because they're all paralysed, they're all sedated. We paralyse and sedate the patients with medication because we need to protect their lungs.
We work 12 hours – we wake up at 5am, get here about 6.30am, leave here at about 7.30pm at night. Normally we'll work a Monday, Tuesday, then have Wednesday and Thursday off, and then work the weekend. But now there's no staff, there's just no staff, so now they ask us to work one of our off days as well. We're all parents, we all have families we need to take care of. And you still go home with whatever's happening here. This place steals a lot away from you. We are emotionally drained. I'm emotionally drained from yesterday and now I have to face today. We are full full full. I don't know where all the new patients are going to go.
This morning I asked the doctor, ‘Is there ever going to be a time when you guys decide what is the criteria for patients to come to ICU, and who's going to make that decision’, and he said, ‘All we can do is try’.”
* The Heroes of Groote Schuur campaign on Facebook was started two years ago to highlight the many unsung heroes working within one of the country’s most esteemed public hospitals.
But these heroes also need the right equipment to deliver a high standard of care - which is why the hospital has launched its Bed Fundraising Appeal.
The hospital needs to replace 84 beds in its Intensive and High Care Units with electronic beds to allow for the optimum care of patients. The total cost for each bed and accompanying monitor is R105 000 - bringing the total refurbishment cost to R8 820 000.
HOW TO ASSIST:
Please consider a donation towards this cause — any amount will help. Visit https://www.gshfb.co.za/donate/ to donate.