Houston Methodist nurse says 4th wave of COVID-19 is different – Houston Public Media

For hospital staff, a fourth wave of COVID-19 means the fourth time they will face not only an increase in the number of cases, but also heartbroken families, the deaths of their patients and problems with health. mental health outcomes.

Houston Public Media spoke to Avery Taylor, the nurse manager of the Houston Methodist Highly Infectious Diseases Unit, to find out if the current wave of infections is any different from previous ones.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How’s it going in the hospital now?

You know, the first two rounds it was chaotic and frantic, but there was a lot of energy on the part of the health care providers. We felt like it was a really meaningful job that we were doing. These people needed our help. It’s not the feeling this time around. This time, it feels like entering a cave of unnecessary suffering. These patients do not need to be in hospital beds. We have a silver bullet and we are not taking it.

Are you saying this because the majority of people who now end up in hospital for COVID are not vaccinated?

Yeah, so that’s the really hard part about it. As health care providers, we have recommended that everyone in our lives get the vaccine. The statistics don’t lie: 98% of patients in Methodist hospitals are currently unvaccinated.

With you and your nursing team, what is the general attitude in your unit now?

The general attitude is therefore one of frustration. You know, obviously we got into health care to take care of people, we want to help people, but we have to do mental gymnastics to really dig in and find our compassion right now.

I feel very determined that any patient who ends up in our beds, we will take care of ourselves and take good care of ourselves. But I spent Sunday in church crying during the service because I’m so sad and so frustrated that there are people out there who are suffering and dying when they don’t have to. And I don’t know, at this point, what else to say or how to appeal to people’s emotions or their logical brains to change their minds and get the shot.

I was honestly in denial. Like all last week, even as I was hiring nurses and opening the second unit, I was like, “Oh, that’s just a peak from July 4th. This is certainly not what we are doing again. And every day the numbers went up and up. I guess denial is a great coping mechanism because I finally realized, “Oh my God, like we’re really doing this again. “

What are you doing to take care of yourself? What are the members of your unit doing to take care of each other?

This week has been quite busy. I can’t say I did a really good job taking care of myself. But overall, a lot of my staff started going into therapy, including me. It’s not uncommon for my staff to say something like “Well, my therapist says,” which I find great. We also read books together. We have a book – the title is “The Four Agreement”. Reading together calmed a lot of anxiety, it brought us a lot of peace, as it helped us communicate better with each other, so it was good.

Even with all of this effort to normalize taking care of and talking about your mental health, do you feel like it’s made a measurable change? Or do you feel that even this is not enough?

It is only sufficient if you use it. But I know my nurses are in pain. I know I’m in pain. We don’t want to start over. But I think my biggest concern is at what cost? And I don’t think anyone has answers to that yet. I think only time will tell how many nurses end up leaving the profession. I want to think it won’t be anyone, but I’m sure it will happen eventually.