![]() ![]() Employer Requirements Under California’s Emergency Wildfire Smoke Regulation.2023 Minimum Wage Hike Brings Changes for California Employers.Your Guide to 2023 California Employment Laws.Set the Tone: Sexual Harassment Prevention.A Roadmap to California’s Worker Classification Law.Cal/OSHA Nonemergency COVID-19 Prevention Standard: What Employers Need to Know.California Privacy Rights Act: What Employers Need to Know.California’s Focus on Pay Equity Increases Responsibilities for Employers.The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. MARTIN: This story comes from NPR's partnership with KPCC and Kaiser Health News.Ĭopyright © 2020 NPR. (SOUNDBITE OF GUILTY GHOSTS' "INFINITES") And nurses everywhere are hurting.īRUNSON: There's not a nurse, no matter what their specialty - ICU or not - who is not having COVID in their face every single day.įORTIER: For NPR News, I'm Jackie Fortiér in Los Angeles. It can help with the feelings of isolation. You're taking care of the mom, the dad and the adult children all in the same ICU.įORTIER: She recommends that hospitals take a page out of the military's playbook and have debriefs where nurses are encouraged to talk about what happened on their shift. MEGAN BRUNSON: When you have whole families coming into an ICU many times, that's morally very distressing. Brunson says these nurses sometimes need more support. Megan Brunson is a nurse in Dallas and a board member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. ROSECRANS: I don't see what the point of going right back would be because I feel like they're going to be operating in that crisis mode.įORTIER: Other nurses are quitting those high-pressure jobs. But she still gets contacted by staffing agencies asking her to fill in at local ICUs. Now Rosecrans works as a surgical nurse for a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. And I didn't want to have to just sit and wait for all these people to pass away.įORTIER: After more than eight months in the ICU, she quit her job in October. And it just felt like ticking time bombs. ROSECRANS: We've already done the convalescent plasma. I just need my patients to stay alive tonight.įORTIER: Calling patients' families was also difficult, especially when she had to explain that there was nothing else the medical team could do to keep their loved one alive. ROSECRANS: I would pray 'til I cried, begging God please not let me lose a patient tonight. Before each shift, she would sit outside the hospital in her parked car filled with dread. Running between rooms, monitoring complicated medications and breathing equipment left her dripping in sweat and afraid that she would contract the virus. Others already have, like Chanel Rosecrans.ĬHANEL ROSECRANS: There eventually came a point where I told myself I have to find a different job because the stress from this is really making me physically sick.įORTIER: She started working as an overnight ICU nurse in February right before the pandemic hit. But for the first time ever, he's thinking of quitting. That's how so many nurses left already.įORTIER: Jai has been an ICU nurse for more than 10 years. JAI: You feel just, like, they're trying to - using you. He has to go to a free testing site on his days off. Like many health care workers who treat COVID patients, Jai has never been tested for the virus by his employer. That was double the number from the week before. During the first week of December, more than 1,700 health care workers across LA County tested positive for the coronavirus. You can see so many nurses that have depression.įORTIER: Burnout isn't the only reason for the staffing crisis. JAI: All the nurses, they already have started burning out. Jai says every time he goes to work for another 12-hour shift, two or three other ICU nurses have taken time off. He works at LA County USC Medical Center, one of the county's largest public hospitals.įORTIER: He thought he'd seen the worst of the pandemic back in July when cases spiked.įORTIER: And it's taking a toll on the staff. JACKIE FORTIER, BYLINE: For 10 months, Jun Jai has treated the sickest COVID-19 patients in the ICU. As Jackie Fortier of member station KPCC reports, some are quitting because of the stress. ![]() ICUs are filling up fast, which is putting more pressure on critical care teams, especially nurses. The massive surge in coronavirus cases has left hospitals across the country in a very bad place.
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