I unfortunately was made the charge nurse for one of the covid floors. It was nuts, they blocked off our unit between the ICU and the surgical (we were considered middle level). Once you entered, you remained gowned and in a respirator but went from room to room without changing out of what was being worn. You ungowned out of an area, not each room. They knocked out about every other window and had air scrubbers pumping out each window. Then when someone needed to be vented or became critical, we could move them straight to ICU without potentially exposing others in the "clean" environments. I was already working 60 hour work weeks prior to Covid, but when covid hit, my other charge nurse quit (of course, it really weeded out the weak), and then I became full time charge on that unit. So I spent 60 hours a week, in a respirator, and could only take it off when I left the unit (wasnt very much). I would send the team out all the time to get fresh air and hydrate. I didnt do so good with myself. It was a disaster for sure, and it wasnt until omicron until they really started to ease up on things. Alpha and delta strains were the absolute worst and when everyone was the most strict. Delta strain was no joke, that time frame was probably the scariest. I could look at someone, look at their O2 requirements, and knew they were getting vented within 24-48 hours. I wasnt wrong often and it was sad. When it finally turned to Omicron, the relief when we took our first pt to med surg side instead of ICU was one of the biggest wins for the team. It was unfortunately a one way street for awhile. Less critical, mid critical (my unit) then to ICU, never the other direction of getting better. ICU then would send them to heaven or to another unit when they deemed covid wasnt in their system or they recovered, but we never had beds to take back the ICU's covid and honestly, most didnt ever get better. I say it all the time, but COVID was what made me comfortable with running code blues and its even more sad that I dont even get an adrenaline rush or even have anxiety anymore when I hear or work a code blue. Its like any other day in the office because of how often we were doing it. It scares me a bit, because getting that comfortable in such a serious situation is how things get missed and complacency happens. I actually made myself go work on a surgical floor and ortho unit this last 8 months to get away from medical stuff, hoping I would get that scare back in me so I can focus again. I miss the chaos sometimes, and likely this little ortho vacation will be over in the next 6 months to a year.
