Nurses have always been overworked in the healthcare system and not only have their abilities been abused, but also their sense of responsibility and professionalism: “If you don’t stay for another shift tonight, who’s going to take care of Mr. Doe and Mrs. Doe from your unit, who are seriously ill? As if it was the fault of the nursing staff that they are understaffed and under-resourced.
They were placed on their shoulders with the total responsibility for the provision of health care without ever being provided with the necessary means, equipment, budget, premises and assistant staff. And when there is a shortage of staff, they are forced to work excessive mandatory overtime. Try imposing these working conditions and this repetitive TSO on a construction union to see…unthinkable!
I would have liked to see how the secretaries of the hospital directors could have carried out their duties with an old mechanical typewriter stuck, the lack of paper and basic office supplies, a fax machine rather than emails and a system outdated, complex and unsuitable computing. Yet this is what hospital staff do every day despite budget cuts, understaffing, lack of supplies, and continual exposure to unquantifiable human drama.
It is also terrible to see a generation of seniors paying the price of a society that neglects them. It took an exceptional and terrible situation to open our eyes in a very, very cruel way. Remember: We are all seniors in the making.
Thank you for pointing this out and I sincerely hope that nurse Sarah Bachand and all of her colleagues recover from this ultramarathon that no one should be forced to run.