There is a deep-rooted "attendance culture" in American medical field: employees often deliberately take more classes or extend overtime hours for fear of being fired. During the epidemic, due to insufficient preparation, the shortage of hospital staff in the United States increased, and the urgent demand for nursing staff in hospitals coincided with this "attendance culture".
Andrea Bromkans, director of emergency medicine at Stanford University in the United States, said that first-line medical staff, in particular, should work hard even if they are sick, because they think others are "sicker".
"goods" are at the mercy of others
A survey of nearly 65,438+0,200 health workers' union members in New Jersey shows that about one third of them have to return to work when they are ill.
Another survey conducted by Caesars Health News and Guardian found that at least 875 front-line medical workers died in COVID-19, and they may have been infected with COVID-19 virus in their work environment.
The duty of medical staff is to cure diseases and save lives. However, taking office before recovery may spread the new coronavirus to the patients they should treat, which is not worth the candle.
A spokesman for new york Presbyterian Hospital said: "We have always followed the guidelines of the New York State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While ensuring their safety and health, we insist on providing them with the support and resources they need."
Is that really the case?
This spring, COVID-19's complaint information from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the United States showed that some medical institutions required employees who tested positive for nucleic acid to return to work; Some medical institutions inform employees in COVID-19 that they will be fired if they don't return to work; There are also employees who choose to go to work sick because they have no other source of income.
"In this epidemic, employees are not protected by their employers, and they feel like commodities," said Debbie White, a registered nurse and president of the New Jersey Health Workers Union.
The "wounded" who were forced to "go to the battlefield"
At the beginning of April, Nurse A of the Affiliated Hospital of the Meridian Medical System in Hackensack, New Jersey received a call from the testing center, informing her that she was nucleic acid positive and needed to be quarantined for two weeks. Less than 20 minutes later, she received a phone call from the hospital informing her that she could go back to work in two days. She replied that the doctor put her in isolation, so she couldn't go back to work.
Although she was not fired, Nurse A received a phone call from the hospital every day, telling her that she was understaffed and her colleagues were "miserable", and most of her accumulated paid holidays were cancelled.
She questioned this: "Although I don't have a fever, I have symptoms of cough and vomiting. I have symptoms of gastrointestinal tract in COVID-19. Because I don't have a fever, do you think it's safe for me to take care of patients? " The answer given by the hospital is "yes".
White said that the Hakensack Meridian Medical System carried out a so-called "salary adjustment" in March, which cancelled many employees' holidays without giving an explanation.
In a statement, Mary Joe Leighton, a spokeswoman for the Hakensack Meridian Medical System, said that the occupational health office of the system has always followed the recommendations of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when evaluating, detecting and treating employees infected with COVID-19 virus.
U.S. federal officials admit that hospitals may require medical staff with COVID-19 to return to work before they recover due to a shortage of staff. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even has a coping strategy, listing measures to alleviate the shortage of manpower, some of which have been widely implemented, such as canceling optional surgery; Provide housing for medical staff living with high-risk groups.
But the CDC also acknowledges that these strategies may not be enough. If there is a real shortage of healthy medical staff, employees suspected or diagnosed in COVID-19 can take care of patients whose immune system is not seriously damaged, taking care of the confirmed patients first and then the suspected patients. Only as a last resort, medical staff diagnosed with infection can provide care for uninfected patients.
Martha Rappleye, the recently retired CEO of virginia commonwealth university's health system, said that, like soldiers on the battlefield, front-line medical personnel have been swallowing the consequences of inadequate preparation at the institutional and social levels. This will leave scars on future generations.
Personal choice or no choice?
Shenita White Ballard, a nurse in Louisiana, needed assisted breathing two years ago because of a severe respiratory infection. She carries an oxygen bottle in her backpack when she works. Shenita's husband Eddie Ballard worked in Wal-Mart, and his salary was not enough to support his family, so Shenita had to stick to his post during the epidemic. Unfortunately, in May of 1, Shenita died at the age of 44.
After Shenita died, her hospital said nothing but told her husband to "come for one last check-up".
Liz Stokes, director of the Center for Ethics and Human Rights of the American Nurses Association, said: "Workers with immunodeficiency face difficult choices during the epidemic, and sometimes the pressure from hospitals will make the choice more difficult."
Stokes tells the story of a surgical nurse with Crohn's disease in Washington. The nurse left her job temporarily at the doctor's suggestion and returned to work under the pressure of her boss and colleagues.
"She feels guilty because she abandoned her colleagues and patients and didn't do her duty as a nurse." Stokes explained.
Medical staff just want to do the right thing.
Trained residents or doctors, whose working hours are too tight and inflexible, often provide care for dozens of patients on the front line all day, which is one of the most vulnerable groups.
Shortly after the first batch of COVID-19 patients in new york were admitted to new york Presbyterian Hospital, Lauren Schleimer, a resident of the hospital, developed COVID-19 symptoms such as cough and sore throat. Because she had never been in contact with patients in COVID-19, she was told that if she coughed, she could continue to work and wear a mask.
Then her symptoms disappeared. A few weeks later, Schlemmer, who worked in the intensive care unit in COVID-19, had a relapse. She was quarantined at home for seven days according to the requirements of the hospital, during which she never had a nucleic acid test.
After the symptoms disappeared again, Schleimer ended his isolation and returned to the intensive care unit in COVID-19. Although she never thought she was a patient, she was still worried about infecting others.
She said, "I do have some symptoms, but that's not why I stay at home." I just want to do the right thing. "
Source: Health Leaders
Original title: Nurses and doctors who have taken exams under pressure.