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On the first shift that attended a patient room with covid-19, in early April, nursing technician Ricardo de Oliveira cried. “I was very upset. It was something new and unknown. My mother wanted me to give up the two hospitals I work for. She said, ‘I pay your bills, son, for God’s sake.'”
From a health professional he became a patient. And fear did not leave him when he was admitted on April 19, after being diagnosed with the disease he feared. Beside him, Ricardo recognized six other nursing colleagues, who were confirmed with the new coronavirus at the same time.
Ricardo’s experience translates what the Ministry of Health data indicates: nursing professionals are the most affected by covid-19 among health workers.
This group represents 57.1% of the hospitalizations of health professionals reported in the country, according to an epidemiological bulletin published yesterday. Most are nursing technicians (205 cases), followed by nurses (192 cases) and nursing assistants (108).
The seven colleagues diagnosed at the same time also indicate the size of the underreporting. The Ministry of Health reported that nine hospitalized nursing professionals with severe acute respiratory syndrome died as a result of covid-19 (confirmed cases). The Cofen (Federal Council of Nursing) counted 108 deaths in the category as of yesterday, including deaths suspected of the disease.
“Most have two or three jobs”
For Walkírio Almeida, coordinator of the Covid-19 crisis committee in Cofen, the greater exposure of these professionals to contaminated environments helps explain why they are the most vulnerable in the area of health.
“From exam collection to medication, it is the nurse who helps to vacuum patients, bathes in beds. From the most basic to the most complex tasks, nurses, technicians and assistants have the most In addition, they have a longer exposure time to contamination. To improve their income, most have two or even three jobs, “says the category representative.
Ricardo’s daily commute begins at 6 am in one hospital and ends at 7 pm in another, both are private institutions. “I am used to sleeping four hours a day, ten years have passed in this life,” says the nursing technician. Since April, he had to adapt to a new sleep routine: he improvised a room in the garage of his house for fear of contaminating his wife and son.
“I have a corner, a basement. It’s comfortable. My wife sends something to eat through a basket. Every day she would scream, ‘Oh, the food is ready,'” says Ricardo. Although cured of covid-19, the nursing technician did not relax the security measures. “It is ending our life to this day. Inside the house, everyone is wearing a mask. We are scared, right?”
“5,000 complaints”
Walkirio Almeida says that Cofen has already received “more than 5,000 complaints” about the insufficient or poor quality of the EPP (personal protective equipment). In addition, it establishes that professionals do not always receive instructions to operate the equipment. “The moment of removing the PPE in service is the most critical, it is a moment of great risk. If the professional is not attentive or has not been trained with the protocols, it may be contaminated,” he says.
In a situation like this, Ricardo reports having experienced his greatest exposure to the new coronavirus. He says there is no shortage of PPE, but “at breakfast time, taking off the mask, one contaminates the other.”
“In contact with patients, everyone uses PPE. But when you drink coffee, and sometimes this is in small places, one can end up contaminating the other. Unfortunately, there are professionals who do not have symptoms and contaminate their colleagues.” , He says.
Bathroom problem
A nurse who works in Ceará and supervises hospitals, by the Nursing Council, informed the Twitter that one of the main problems in health units is precisely the places where professionals rest or eat meals. In such environments, which are generally small, workers may be unprotected and sometimes not respect a minimum distance.
This professional, who prefers to speak anonymously, says that the precariousness of labor relations is another aggravating factor. “Many professionals are not affiliated with institutions, they only pay on call. Sometimes, even with mild symptoms, since they are the breadwinner, they even hide that they have covid-19 and go to work.”
The nurse even reveals that she may have worked infected: “It hurts me the most.”
Before confirming the diagnosis of covid-19 on an imaging exam, he received three negative rapid test results. When the cough worsened, with shortness of breath, he returned to the doctor, performed a CT scan, and took new tests that eventually confirmed that he had the new coronavirus.
Among the suspects and confirmed, the Federal Council of Nursing reports 14.3 thousand cases of covid-19 throughout the country, the majority in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
“This is the most critical moment in contemporary nursing history,” says Ivany Baptista, coordinator of the nursing course at the University of Vale do Paraíba and advisor to the São Paulo Regional Council of Nursing. She was also diagnosed with covid-19 and had to be hospitalized in March to supplement the oxygen.
“We are also emotionally shocked on the front line. We get tired. We can’t go wrong. We are scared and often prejudiced. We have complaints from people who suffer on the bus just because they are blank; it’s an incorrect way of thinking ” The professional is prepared not to contaminate himself, he is very afraid of contaminating himself and contaminating his own family. It is not fair to suffer discrimination on the way to work, in a bakery, “laments Ivany.
