Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1311160
44 NURSING SPOTLIGHT 'They're scared': Demand for Georgia ICU nurses triples in 1 week By Gabrielle Masson H ealthcare facilities across Georgia are struggling to hire enough intensive care unit nurses amid flu season and the winter COVID-19 season, The Atlanta Journal-Con- stitution reported Nov. 11. Demand for ICU nurses in Georgia more than tripled during the first week of November compared to the week prior, according to NurseFly, a temporary healthcare staffing website. Demand in October was already high — 373 percent greater than Octo- ber 2019, according to NurseFly. "The demand is just greater than the supply," said Laura Brower, RN, vice president and chief nursing officer at Augusta (Ga.) University Health. As of early November, Augusta University Health was seeking 250 nurses, partly to staff an ICU it converted into a COVID-19 ICU, employment ads showed. Elbert (Ga.) Memorial Hospital also asked the state government for nurses. "I'm hearing of a lot of nurses coming out of the system be- cause they're scared," said Dana Horton, RN, a radiology nurse at the Atlanta VA Medical Center and the local union director for National Nurses United. "For their own health, for their fami- ly's health." Earlier in the pandemic, when some hospitals experienced nursing shortages, other hospitals were furloughing staff, bolstering the amount of nurses able to help in hot spots. Now, with the virus widespread across the U.S., hospitals are compet- ing for a shrinking pool of nurses. "We're already struggling to find staff," said Kerry Trapnell, CEO of Elbert Memorial. "There's definitely reason to believe that the patient load's going to be worse this time. I wish I knew. That's the fear." n Viewpoint: Self- care a must for nurses to provide compassionate care to patients By Erica Carbajal W hile providing compassionate patient care can come at a personal cost for nurses, known as compassion fatigue, it can be prevented, Sharon Willey, DNP, RN, wrote in a Nov. 4 op-ed for Ohio and Indiana's KPC News. Dr. Willey is an associate nursing professor at Trine University in Angola, Ind. "Compassion fatigue has been described as an emotional cost of caring for traumatized individuals or bearing witness to others' trauma," Dr. Willey wrote in the op-ed. "It can happen when nurses provide prolonged care to individuals who have experienced traumatic events." To combat this, nurses need to prioritize and protect their own mental and physical well-being by practicing self-care, according to Dr. Willey. A healthy work/life balance and self-care tactics are vital resources that serve as a barrier to compassion fatigue. Nurses should prioritize time for "activities that bring peace, calm and rest," and recognize the behavioral, emotional and physical warning signs of compassion fatigue. Supporting and encouraging nurses to address their own lim- itations means they will be better suited to continue providing holistic and compassionate care, concluded Dr. Willey. n 79% of nurses say healthcare workers lack enough information on COVID-19 vaccines By Kelly Gooch M any nurses feel they don't have sufficient informa- tion about COVID-19 vaccines and the development process, according to survey findings released by the American Nurses Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the American Nurses Association. e October survey of 12,939 nurses found that 79 percent of respondents said healthcare workers have not received enough information about COVID-19 vaccine safety, side effects and administration. Additionally, 75 percent of respondents said they are skeptical or unclear about the COVID-19 clinical trials process, and 70 percent said they are skeptical or unclear about the COVID-19 vaccine approval process. Nearly half of respondents said they are not comfortable discuss- ing COVID-19 vaccines with patients, according to the survey. "ese findings underscore the gaps that need to be addressed quickly and effectively," ANA President Ernest Grant, PhD, RN, said in a news release. "Education of nurses and other healthcare workers must be a top priority to ensure a high level of vacci- nation among these essential workers. is is critical, both to protect these front-line providers, as well as in recognition of how their behavior and beliefs influence the public." n