Let’s take a look at how an executive nurse in Dallas spent her 20-hour day juggling not only Covid-19 surge but also her own family matters. Read this article from The Dallas Morning News and get inside one of Dallas’ busiest Covid-19 wards from a nurse’s perspective.
Inside Parkland’s Covid-19 ward, a swarm of caregivers Tuesday afternoon circled the bed of a critically ill patient who was fast tipping toward the dreaded question:
How much longer to delay intubating the middle-aged man, whose entire body shuddered with his 50-gasps-a-minute fight for breath? Would the extra oxygen already in place eventually allow him to turn the corner or would he code into cardiac arrest because his heart gave out?
The assessment was unanimous: This slow suffocation had to be stopped. All of the dozen or so medical staffers in the room knew their precise roles in what came next.
Alongside the caregivers was Samantha Rowley, the Parkland executive in charge of the Tactical Care Unit. Tough and sturdy, she scanned the action, detail by detail, and said a quiet thanks for her team’s skills.
At the head of the bed, using a laryngoscope, a steel tool with a light at its end, a nurse anesthetist guided a tube almost 9 inches into the patient’s windpipe.
Amid this complicated choreography, one detail — easily missed amid the bigger medical drama — was most significant. Every caregiver in the room, Rowley included, was touching the critically ill patient in some way: Holding his hand, rubbing his shoulder, cradling his feet, speaking quietly in his ear.
Each wanted to make sure he knew he wasn’t alone. Just before he slipped into a sedated sleep, he whispered, “Thank you so very much.”
Read more about this article here.
Hundreds of healthcare workers have flown to the city of Dallas to pick up shifts from exhausted nurses and doctors. Nurses, the backbone of healthcare, typically have to deal with serious levels of burnout – the COVID-19 pandemic has made the problem that much worse.
If you are a Nurse in Dallas who faces any disciplinary issues before the Texas Board of Nursing, please contact Dallas nurse attorney Yong J. An, call or text at 832 428 5679 or anlawfirm@gmail.com. Mr. An has represented over 100 nurses before the Texas Board of Nursing since 2006.