Supportive team helps her cope with pressure
Shaelyn Allen, 29
• Critical-care registered nurse • In job five years • Married
Shaelyn Allen says trying to keep COVID-19 patients and their families connected is tough.
“The hardest thing for me is having the families not be able to come in and visit their loved ones when they are so sick,” Allen says. “With nursing, it’s a holistic approach. We don’t just nurse the patient — we nurse the family as well.”
Allen says her own family — along with colleagues and a phenomenal interdisciplinary team and great leadership — helps her get through when the anxiety of the COVID-19 crisis mounts.
“Knowing you work with such an incredible supportive team has really helped.”
While being quick-thinking and fast-acting in a medical emergency is the “bread and butter” of those working in the ICU, Allen says slow and methodical is key in the pandemic.
“Your first instinct is to run into the room when something’s wrong. But now we have to step back and we have to make sure we’re protecting ourselves and we’re doing the right things in the right order,” she says, noting different personal protective equipment is required for different procedures.
“So knowing instantly which PPE to put on and getting into the room to do your job is quite stressful, to be honest, and it’s been a bit of a challenge and a learning curve, but I feel like we’ve learned pretty quick on the job as to what needs to be done and making sure we’re protecting ourselves.”
Allen was hoping to start a family this year, but she and her husband have put that on hold for now, “just for safety.”
Much is still unknown about COVID-19, says Allen, which can lead to a feeling of helplessness and lack of control. “You don’t really know what you’re going into … when you enter the patient’s room.”
A patient who seems to be recovering can “turn, like almost instantly,” she says, adding she’s only had one “bad breakdown,” after her first COVID-19 patient.
“It was just the pressure,” she says. “This is like something completely new — you don’t exactly know what you’re looking for. You don’t exactly know what to expect. The treatment is different, too, and because there’s no cure and there’s no straight-up treatment, you’re just kind of doing symptom management.”
On tough days, she says, she powers through remembering who she is doing it all for: her patients and the community.
“We hear that they’re cheering for us all the time. We really appreciate the support of the community. We couldn’t do it without them.”