Covid19 has been an ongoing issue for almost two years now. Too many, it may seem like it is settling down and the world is appearing to be coming back to normal. But for those in healthcare, it is the complete opposite of that. Even with mask mandates being lifted in bigger events with more people being open, hospitals are still slammed with patients sick of this virus and sadly having to see many not survive.

At UC Health in West Chester, nurses, doctors, and many other specialties experience working with this virus and many sick patients everyday. It has brought lots more stress to their jobs and their daily lives.

“I don’t think our numbers track the new case numbers that well. There’s about a 1-2 week lag between when these people are initially diagnosed and when they’re sick enough to end up in the hospital. Plus, we’ve still got quite a few people who initially contracted it in August, and are still in the ICU on the vent. I don’t think this hell is gonna be over until next spring. There will be the normal winter surge (flu and such), and I think Covid’s going to have one last really bad surge this winter,” Alexandra Jordan (MD) said.

“Two things strike me the most 20 months into the Covid 19 pandemic. First, health care professionals and the support staff have been working at maximum capacity for a long time with no reprieve. The sheer volume of patients is overwhelming day in and day out. The exhaustion is unlike anything I have experienced in my nearly 30 year career. The burn out and moral distress will have long-lasting effects on health care workers,” Kim Grabel (BSN,RN,CCM) said.

Another issue that is pushed on healthcare workers during this pandemic is dealing with families and patients. Many families are not understanding towards them and can be hateful when they are angry and take it out on those working just trying to help the sick patients.

“The second frightening issue for me is the increase in hostility and distrust from some of the patients and families. The increase in patient volumes has increased wait times and there are delays for testing, procedures and speciality consultations. There are not even resources to get to everyone in a timely manner. People yell and get angry with hospital staff at least once a day where I work. I am fearful the violence will escalate beyond verbal abuse,” Grabel said

“It keeps getting worse. They’re sicker now than in the beginning. Patients are a lot sicker and for much longer. The patients seem to be getting admitted days 10/11 of having the virus and even a little later at times. In the beginning it was day 6/7/8,” Jill (P, RN, Emergency Department and Covid Unit) said.