‘THE GOVERNMENT URGENTLY NEEDS TO PRIORITISE GETTING US MORE PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT’
Richenda Browne, 29, is a senior staff nurse in the emergency department at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
One of my roles involves liaising with families during their darkest hours of need. But everything I know about being there for people feels different because of how infectious coronavirus is. Last week, when a woman distraught with grief came to the hospital and told me she was desperate to see her husband, I had to be blunt about the risks to her health. She told me her son had begged her not to come but her husband was dying and she had to be by his side.
Helping families who can’t be together in these moments is upsetting. I stay strong for my patients at work, but at home, on rare days off, I process everything. We need to think of innovative ways for people to communicate with patients in isolation, such as using video calls to say goodbye. I’m also finding it challenging to show empathy through protective equipment and masks – I rely so heavily on my facial expressions.
What’s really worrying is how hospitals are running low on protective equipment. The Government urgently needs to prioritise getting more. Healthcare workers are the most precious commodity the country has right now. To protect them, I’ve stopped seeing family and friends and can’t bear to think how long this might go on for – I’m trying to treat it like a humanitarian mission.
We’re discovering new things every day about this novel disease: the majority of patients with symptoms have been over 40; for some reason, more people with symptoms seem to need emergency medical treatment in the afternoons. We’ve also been surprised how quickly some people’s breathing seems to deteriorate. After having symptoms for five to seven days, those who are going to develop severe illness can quickly go downhill.
So many people in the NHS are doing incredible things to help and support each other, but it’s not just the clinicians; the cleaners and all NHS staff are working flat out to try and keep everyone safe, day and night. The thought of staying home for months might seem boring to you, but patience is a word we should all be using right now. All I hope is that this serves as a reality check for the world to look out for each other, show more compassion and not take the NHS for granted.