What it’s like to work in a hospital during a pandemic — and what you can do to ease the burden

Eighteen months ago, Jon Gilbert, RN, CCRN, a charge nurse in the intensive care unit (ICU) at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital, told his team that the ICU was accepting its first patients with COVID-19. Like many health care professionals across the globe, it was a mission they embraced with courage, strength, skill and resilience.

Fast forward a year and a half and countless patients later. When Gilbert stands before his unit now, he still sees those same dedicated team members, but the mood has shifted. They are tired. They are frustrated.

“None of us ever thought it would go on for this long,” says Gilbert. “When the COVID-19 vaccines came out, we breathed this collective sigh of relief. But with people refusing to get vaccinated, it feels like there’s no longer a light at the end of the tunnel. The situation right now is the worst we have seen since the pandemic began.”

Flooded and stretched thin

Health systems from coast to coast, including MultiCare, are caring for record numbers of patients with COVID-19 — most of whom are unvaccinated — amid a historic labor shortage. This means that Gilbert and many of his colleagues frequently work grueling back-to-back shifts. It means that ICUs are full of patients who require labor-intensive, hands-on care and whose conditions often deteriorate quickly. It means that emergency departments (EDs) are flooded with patients of all ages who are critically ill.

“It’s been common for our 46-bed ED to be packed, with another 30 to 40 patients in the waiting room,” says Morgan Sagdahl, an emergency services technician at Good Samaritan. “Many of the unvaccinated patients with COVID-19 are very sick. The sicker you are, the more resources — staff, equipment and time — are required to care for you. Often it feels like we’re just trying to keep our heads above water.”

This spike in patient volumes has been driven in part by the rapid spread of the delta variant, a highly contagious form of the virus that causes COVID-19. In addition to stretching hospital capacity, the surge is also testing staff morale like never before.

“When patients in the ICU go into cardiac or respiratory arrest and they don’t survive, staff must immediately get the room ready for the next patient,” says Gilbert. “There is no time to process what happened — this goes on day after day, multiple times a day and that wears on you.”

The toll of the pandemic

The pandemic has taken a toll on the well-being of many health care professionals. According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, approximately three in 10 health care workers have considered leaving the profession, and more than half report feelings of burnout.

“We are exhausted, both physically and emotionally,” says Sagdahl. “The ongoing stress makes us more vulnerable to COVID-19 and it impacts the care we provide.”

The current situation even affects health care professionals when they’re off the clock.

“It’s really difficult to rest when you get home,” says Gilbert. “On my days off, I often don’t have the energy to do any of the things I typically enjoy, like hiking, that restore my emotional capital.”

Gilbert also knows that he and his fellow clinicians are not the only ones who are feeling weary and overdrawn.

“It hurts to see people suffering, not only inside the walls of the hospital but outside as well. The pandemic has disrupted life for everyone,” he says. “What we hope is that people will once again put their trust in the medical community and block out the noise that seems to be overshadowing our efforts.”

How you can help

To help relieve some of the strain on our staff and health system, MultiCare has implemented a salaried regional labor pool (SRLP). Through this resource, salaried MultiCare employees — whether they have clinical experience or not — sign up to provide on-the-floor support for their hospital-based colleagues, from changing bed linens to restocking supplies and much more. In addition, MultiCare has delayed many elective surgeries and re-deployed some outpatient staff to hospital facilities.

There are also steps the public can take to help ease the burden our health care professionals are shouldering: get vaccinated, wear a mask in indoor spaces and follow community social distancing guidelines.

“Vaccines help prevent people with COVID-19 from needing hospitalization,” says Sagdahl. “Less people admitted means we have more beds and more staff available for other patients who need emergent care.”

Throughout the pandemic, those who have been providing key public services, such as hospital-based care, have been referred to as frontline workers, however Gilbert sees his role and that of his team’s a little differently.

“We’re the last stop — the community is the front line now,” he says. “Getting vaccinated might not just save your life, but the life of your child, your parent or your neighbor. Nobody wants to say goodbye to their loved one through the glass of the ICU.”