We’ve known it for a couple of years that this day would come. This day where we can declare a state of emergency in our operating room department. The emergency is that we are not enough nurses to run the operating rooms, endoscopy and colposcopy clinics. We have organized many retirement partys in the last two years, eaten cake et sadly said our goodbyes to several of our colleagues. The shortage of nurses is felt more than ever but we shouldn't worry, new nurses will come to our rescue!
The problem is though, that their are no job postings for them…
Don’t get me wrong, I love my work and I wouldn’t change it for any other but the situation is worrisome.
I feel privileged to do the work that I do, especially with such a great team! The problem is though, that the number of players on the team is going down at an alarming pace. In my twelve years of practise, I have never seen so many collegues leave for sick leave than in the last few months. When I found out this week that another colleague was leaving for burnout, I felt sad for her and then I realized that I would now have to be on call every three days!
Don’t get me wrong, I love my work and I wouldn’t change it for any other but I am starting to feel like a hostage.
I get letters from my kids schools every day informing me of new cases of strep throat, scarlet fever, chicken pox… Thank goodness my kids rarely get sick! Except for a few weeks ago when my daughter woke up with a sore throat. I told her that sore throats were part of life and that it would go away eventually. Later after school, she told me she couldn’t swallow. When I looked at her throat, her tonsils were giving each other a high five! I was on call again the next day, therefore could not miss work so I took a culture of her throat. When I got the positive strep results, I was on call again! I had to go fishing for an antibiotic prescription cause I could not take my own daughter to a clinic being on call. Going to the clinic would have also cause me to cancel a 24 patient clinic.
Two weeks later, school called me at work to inform me that my daughter threw up. I dare ask the secretary is she was feeling better because I still had two colonoscopys to do and my patients were waiting. I even prayed later that she would be strong enough to go to school the next day so I wouldn’t have to miss work and leave my colleagues stranded. Thankfully she woke up smiling!
I love my work and I wouldn’t change it for any other but the problem is that we are not enough nurses for the amount of work that is expected of us. The ones remaining are exhausted and I am starting to worry about patient safety.
I wish my kids had the same rights to health care as other kids, but they don’t because their mom is taken hostage at her work. My kids are not allowed to get sick!
So Mr Barrette, I was wondering, if you cannot help us with more nurses, would you happen to have a vaccin for my kids that would protect them against everything that goes around in the schools? And one for me as well?
I know very well that I’m entitled sick days and that my kids are my priority. They are of course. But nursing is a vocation and I take my vocation to heart and feel a great deal of responsibility toward my patients. I know they have waited for their exams or surgeries for a long time and I want to offer them the care that they are entitled to. I love my work and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world but today I am asking you out loud Mr Barrette: We need help!
http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-a-montreal-nurse-and-mothers-plea-for-help
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