Virginia Nurses Today - August 2020

Page 8 | August, September, October 2020
COVID-19 Experiences continued from page 7
career as exciting, stable, full of opportunity and
rewarding? Williams believes that answer will most
likely be a “wait and see.” In either situation, she
thinks that nurses will need heightened support
from the government in the form of a reevaluation of
healthcare in its entirety and a focus on increased
prevention, protection, compensation, retention and
equality.
Throughout this difficult time, Williams finds the
following quote from American Association of Critical
Care Nurses President Megan Brunson to be a
shining light for the nursing profession: “Unstoppable
is knowing if we get knocked down, we get up again.
We are nurses. We cannot be stopped from doing
what’s right for our patient.”
“We are truly an admirable professional group
of which I am honored to be a part of,” Williams
concluded.
Christine Aubry, BSN, RN​ is
a Clinical Nurse II​at VCU
Health where she started in
June of 2016 as a float care
partner for supplemental
staffing. Aubry graduated as
a double major from VCU in
May of 2018 with a bachelor’s
in nursing and psychology.
She started in June of 2018
on progressive care medicine
and has been a nurse for two
years. Aubry challenged the clinical ladder and
became a Clinical II nurse this past fall. Since then,
she has been trained as a charge/resource nurse, has
been a preceptor to new grad nurses and nursing
students, and has joined her unit’s Shared
Governance Committee. Aubry was recently accepted
to VCU’s Family Nurse Practitioner program and will
start this fall.​
Aubry explained that as a nurse, many things
about her practice are always changing and this has
been true especially during COVID times. As new
information has come out, nurses have had to adapt
to changing policies, procedures, and expectations
while remaining flexible throughout the past months.
“VCU has been transparent and communicative
regarding PPE shortages and reuse and I have really
appreciated their efforts regarding that,” Aubry said.
“I know other nurses in other hospitals throughout
the country have not been as lucky.”
She explained that VCU is reusing airborne masks
for COVID positive patients but only after they have
been sanitized using UV light technology. VCU has
also started extending the use of their droplet masks
in non COVID positive rooms with the use of a face
shield, which is then discarded at the end of the
shift. ​Aubry mentioned that COVID has completely
changed the way her unit runs. They have now found
a new normal, but at first it was very overwhelming
as they saw huge changes in the way they practice,
communicate with patients, patient families, and
other staff members.
In preparation for patients, her unit’s patient doors
were changed from solid wood to ones with large
windows. There were specialty signs that were placed
on the doors to alert staff on what PPE is required
to safely enter rooms. They have staff members who
are door monitors stationed outside rooms to ensure
all staff are appropriately donning and doffing PPE.
Aubry also pointed out that staff have been asked to
cluster care in order to decrease potential exposure
to COVID positive individuals and conserve PPE. This
means that patients are alone for long periods of time,
often unable to communicate with family and have
limited communication with staff.
“We have seen more delirium in patients who are
COVID positive and I suspect this is one contributing
factor,” Aubry noted. “My unit is a medicine stepdown
unit and we have accepted a lot of patients
who were intubated and sedated in the ICU for
extended periods of time. Many of these patients
have never been sick or in the hospital, and they now
find themselves debilitated, unable to walk or feed
themselves, go to the bathroom independently, alone,
and without family to support them in the hospital.” ​
Aubry recalled having two patients from the same
family test positive for COVID-19 who were admitted
to her unit within a week of each other whom she
both cared for. Three of their other family members
Virginia Nurses Today | www.VirginiaNurses.com
had been sick with COVID and two had died from it
a week previously. The first patient remained stable
throughout her stay, never required oxygen, was
ambulatory, and not feverish. She was discharged
home about six days later. Her brother was the other
patient admitted to the ICU at Aubry’s hospital. He
was immediately intubated and sedated. Once he was
extubated, he was transferred to her floor to continue
his care and rehab while he was medically unstable.
Unfortunately, he passed away while on Aubry’s floor
due to complications from pulmonary embolisms that
were discovered while he was in the ICU. This family
had been devastated from COVID with so many
family members dying from the disease in such a
close timespan.
“It shocked me how different members of the same
family had different reactions to this illness,” Aubry
said. “My heart breaks for the remaining family
members left to deal with recovering from COVID
while planning multiple funerals for their deceased
family.”​
Aubry noted that the Richmond community has
been incredibly supportive during this time. Her
hospital has received letters of support from staff
from other units, families of staff, patients, and other
community members. Food donations kept staff fed
during hard shifts and supported local Richmond
businesses during this hard time. Donated masks
kept staff safe outside the patients’ rooms, at the
nurses station, and in the hallways. Headbands to
secure masks and alleviate sore ears, lotion for dry
hands, and skincare wipes were also donated.
“I have also been well supported by my personal
community,” Aubry said. “Family and friends have
sent letters of encouragement and thanks as well as
gift cards to restaurants and businesses to keep my
spirits up.”​
Aubry hopes that the pandemic will encourage
nurses to be more empowered to advocate for their
profession as they have great power as a community to
make meaningful changes and requests for protection
equipment. She urges people to continue to follow
guidelines to stay at home and wear masks in public.
As a nurse, it is incredibly disheartening for her to see
large groups of people gathering in public spaces and
hearing some talk about COVID being fake.