"I feel like I could work to death": Exhausted nurses in Hong Kong share stories about the peak of the influenza season and hospital chaos



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While Hong Kong's public hospitals are recovering from the flu crisis, busy nurses address social media to express their frustration, but also to share positive stories and remember the uncomfortable chaos that led them to to occupy the sick.

Lupita (this is not her real name), 39, has seen everything for nine years as she works in the emergency rooms – from heart attack victims to paralyzed people, to those who are so sick that they continue to vomit. She also received complaints from agitated people taken in queues for a consultation.

During her 17-year career, she barely rubbed shoulders with her family members during the Lunar New Year, one of the busiest hospitals.

"Being a nurse, is sometimes regretting the time spent with loved ones," she says under the guise of anonymity.

His story, written on his blog "HK Little Nurse", was shared by some 25,000 nurses working in more than 40 public clinics in Hong Kong.

"I felt isolated from the world and I just needed a point of sale," says Lupita, who started blogging in 1999 while she was a trainee in a hospital as a # 39, student in a school of nursing. It has 11,000 followers.

"My readers like to know my feelings as a person and not just as a nurse. They make me understand that there are still people who are willing to show consideration for me when I feel that I can work to death. "

Last month, more than 100 nurses from the Association of Hong Kong, representing 60% of the city's 50,000 nurses, staged a protest about how their workload drove them to the clinic. limit. This was followed by a forum organized by doctors and another gathering of support staff in the care centers.

Hospital support staff protest labor shortage during influenza season

Hong Kong is at the heart of the deadly winter flu season. Some 123 adults and a two-year-old child had died in late January. Nearly 400 kindergartens or nursery schools have reported influenza outbreaks, clbades being closed early for Lunar New Year's holiday.

"Dad disapproved of my job. We fought all the time about it, "recalls Lupita. "He would say that I should not work as a maid. [And while I served others,] I have never been able to serve him, nor my mother.

Lupita's father died in 2014 from lung cancer and heart disease for two years. Once diagnosed, he chose not to be cared for by his daughter, lest it be a problem.

Lupita, who was attending a hospital-sponsored nurse course, usually had to finish her work and clbades before she could visit her father.

"I took care of other people's parents when my father was sick. I had no choice but to believe in my peers. I feel guilty. I could not do anything, "she says.

I took care of other people's parents when my father was sick. I had no choice but to believe in my peers.

Lupita, nurse and blogger

This feeling of helplessness still haunts her and has been made worse by the sudden death of her mother last year. Lupita went home and found her lying on the ground, motionless.

"As a professional, when I touched her cold body, I immediately realized that she was gone," recalls Lupita, her voice trembling.

But her losses have given her more strength in her job – she says it's easier to be compbadionate for the patients' families.

"I also get a new perspective when I save someone," adds Lupita. "And I'm grateful to have the opportunity to become a better nurse."

Although her husband urged her to change careers and take better care of her health, Lupita says, "This job is my vocation. It has become my responsibility to help and save lives. "

Another nurse blogger, Mandy Fung (pseudonym), publishes her drawings on her blog "Small Steps Towards Nursing", which now has more than 4,000 subscribers. She describes it as a "hole in the trees" for her to bury negativity and stress.

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Fung, 25, tries to record all the encouraging moments of her blog, such as disturbing words from other people asking her if she has had lunch or just an act like a patient who remembers her. first name.

Fung has always aspired to become a "white angel" since the age of six, after seeing how nurses cared for her sick sister. But the reality was hard when she started working in a public hospital in Kowloon less than a year ago.

"Only then did I realize how serious the situation was. There are just too many patients!

For Peter Chan, a 27-year-old nurse (pseudonym), blogs are a way to dispel misconceptions that the public may have about his work. But Chan, who draws and publishes drawings on "Little Toxic Nurse," explains that sharing the realities of online work can sometimes turn against us.

Doctors complain that the deadly flu is seizing the city

One day, he was surprised by the netizens for posting caricatures describing how nurses used medical restraints on elderly patients, prompting accusations of cruel treatment. His superior was to remind him to "speak with caution".

"I felt pretty discouraged. I did not think so many people knew our work and would not let me explain. "

Encouraged by a group of followers, he chose to continue on his blog, which now has 18,000 subscribers.

"My job is simple: help people. And I wish more people get that, "says Chan, adding that he had never considered quitting.

My job is simple: help people. And I wish more people get that

Peter Chan, nurse

Lupita adds that patients in Hong Kong can be demanding, waiting for them to be always happy and listening to them.

"It's because they see nurses as employees in the service industry," she says. "The truth is we are not. We hope that they will understand why we must be fast, accurate and resolved. Because our job is actually saving lives. "

All three say that even if the work is demanding, simple interactions with grateful patients make all the sacrifices worthwhile.

Fung remembers what a patient who was a grandmother had told her one day, "Do not starve."

"I felt that at least she cared about it. It reminds me why I chose to be a nurse, "she says.

The trio says his sense of accomplishment comes when he sees recovering patients coming out of the hospital. Although they may miss the interactions with those with whom they served and bonded, Chan said, "I always think that being a nurse is more a happy experience than a laborious experience. "

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