The expected summer lull has not arrived in hospitals. Nurses with severe symptoms of COVID-19, including nausea, vomiting, headaches and muscle aches, are forced to work with vulnerable patients to avoid service disruptions in the health network.
According to what The duty learned, this obligation to stay on the job despite a positive screening test and bothersome symptoms creates discomfort among health care workers. Nurses have shared their fears of infecting patients or making medical errors due to fatigue and symptoms of COVID-19.
“It’s a dangerous situation for my colleagues, for the patients and for myself,” says a nurse who works in geriatrics with a vulnerable clientele. She asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
Presenting symptoms of a COVID-19 infection, this worker carried out a rapid screening test which turned out to be positive. After a PCR test confirmed the infection, managers responsible for employees with a positive COVID test told him to self-isolate for five days. However, after informing her head of unit, this nurse had to stay on her shift “with the agreement of senior management”.
The next day, managers ordered him back to work due to understaffing in his unit. But, in the meantime, his state of health had deteriorated: “I developed more and more intense symptoms. Nausea, vomiting, headache, muscle aches and abdominal pain. »
She informed the people responsible. Yet, she was told that as long as she didn’t have a fever, she should continue to work. This decision led the nurse to work “with dizziness and nausea”. “I unfortunately vomited in my department. »
After this episode, she was told to go home immediately. But without any relief, the nurse was forced to finish her shift despite her symptoms.
The next day, due to a high fever, she was allowed to self-isolate until the temperature returned to below 38°C.
Avoid service disruptions
The Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) confirms that employees sick with COVID-19 may be called upon to work in the event of “persistent compromise” in access to services due to a lack of personnel.
Some 6,478 health network employees were absent due to COVID-19 as of July 26, according to the MSSS. “It is obvious that this absenteeism rate contributes to putting more pressure on current employees and on the health network,” says Robert Maranda, spokesperson for the MSSS.
“The early reintegration of an employee infected with COVID is done when other options have been exhausted and when the establishment risks the disruption of services due to the lack of workers,” he specifies. The establishment must ensure that the return takes place in a “hot” zone, where people are already infected with COVID, or with less vulnerable clienteles. Measures must be taken to prevent other employees from contaminating themselves, by reserving a meal room or changing room for infected workers, for example. The latter must also wear adequate protective equipment, underlines the MSSS.
Precautionary principle
Another nurse with 20 years of experience, who also wishes to remain anonymous, had to work despite testing positive for COVID-19 and showing symptoms of an infection. She did her best to avoid her co-workers and went to a corner “where there was no one” when she needed to blow her nose.
“I didn’t tell my patients because I didn’t want to scare them,” explains the nurse.
“People were shocked to know that they could be cared for by an unvaccinated nurse, but they may not know that healthcare workers are likely to be contagious,” she adds.
The Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) maintains that health care workers infected with COVID-19 should isolate themselves for 10 days.
“We advocate the precautionary principle for the benefit of workers, but also for patients. We must not compromise on the health and safety of patients and workers,” argues Benoit Hamilton, press officer for the FIQ.
The work of nurses with COVID-19 “does not appear to be widespread practice at this time”, according to the union.
For its part, the Order of Nurses of Quebec recalls that its members have “no ethical obligation to inform their patients of their health condition”.
A nurse who goes to work knowing that she is sick “must notify her employer and follow the rules of infection prevention”, including wearing protective equipment to protect her patients.
“However, if she considers that she is not fit to go to work to the point of affecting the quality of the care to be provided, she must withdraw and notify her employer. »