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I took this photo after I had cleaned out my locker & walked out of my unit after working my last shift. I can see the fatigue on my face even with the mask.
I didn’t really know how to talk about it on here. CVICU/IMC nursing has been a big part of my life
I didn’t really know how to talk about it on here. CVICU/IMC nursing has been a big part of my life
for almost two decades now. I love bedside nursing. I love chronic disease management, too, & I have always done some bedside nursing acute care but also chronic care management and informatics
But bedside has always been a part of my workweek, and now it’s not. Maybe I worked too far into this pregnancy during a pandemic anyway, given the health complications and risk of getting covid.
But Covid isn’t why I left, and I do not believe it should be called burnout, either. It’s the betrayal of the federal and state government to medical workers like me, and it’s the failure of our hospital administrators, and the betrayal and ignorance of the citizens in the commu
communities we serve. I shouldn’t have to provide my own PPE or be asked to reuse the same N95 over and over. We shouldn’t have to work short staffed & with no beds left in reserves-patients stacking up in the ER with nowhere to transfer them.
I am still in disbelief of the hateful messages I get from people I know personally from church or school or are related to me that feel it’s okay to DM me whenever I post some covid stats or a personal story from work
they tell me I’m fear mongering, that covid is just the flu, or that I’ve been “influenced by the left agenda” (I don’t even know what that last one means).
It’s bad enough that nurses have to endure months of trauma, witnessing death after death, including our own coworkers we have not been able to save, but to be betrayed by our own community
family who are supposed to support & care for us is beyond the call of duty. It’s straight up abuse and trauma. It’s irreparable damage to those relationships.
It’s not burnout.
Don’t tell me I need to meditate, sleep more, self-care, take days off (with what PTO?), yoga, or resiliency my way out of this.
Don’t tell me I need to meditate, sleep more, self-care, take days off (with what PTO?), yoga, or resiliency my way out of this.
This is not burnout. This is the absolute collapse of our health systems & the targeting and abuse of nurses, doctors, RTs, etc.
It’s. Not. Burnout.
It’s. Not. Burnout.
