wakproductions
Sharpshooter
My wife graduated from nursing school in December and began working as an ED nurse just several weeks ago. We are very concerned about Covid-19. There is a certain level of risk as a healthcare provider who directly interacts with patients, but the unknowns on the deadliness of this new germ and how it spreads is something we weren't prepared for. Because some people carry this asymptomatically for a while and there seems to be some sort of through the air transmission, my wife is most concerned bringing this thing home and infecting the rest of our family.
Her employer does not seem to be taking the steps we would expect to be proactive in keeping workers safe. Because personal protective equipment is in short supply, they are making such items unavailable to the nursing staff except for special circumstances. They haven't been thoroughly testing new patients. Many of the other people we know working in healthcare (including people at her workplace) seem to not be as concerned as we are. They seem confident that they will just fight it off and recover if infected with Covid-19.
We're not sure what to do. If my wife quits her job so soon after just starting because of this crisis, would that be a career ending decision? If you work in healthcare, do you have an opinion on how to improve your personal safety as an ED nurse in this situation?
Her employer does not seem to be taking the steps we would expect to be proactive in keeping workers safe. Because personal protective equipment is in short supply, they are making such items unavailable to the nursing staff except for special circumstances. They haven't been thoroughly testing new patients. Many of the other people we know working in healthcare (including people at her workplace) seem to not be as concerned as we are. They seem confident that they will just fight it off and recover if infected with Covid-19.
We're not sure what to do. If my wife quits her job so soon after just starting because of this crisis, would that be a career ending decision? If you work in healthcare, do you have an opinion on how to improve your personal safety as an ED nurse in this situation?