The number of patients with COVID-19 in the hospital is down, but nurses who took part in a study at the University of Windsor say they "can't catch their breath."
Last year, researchers interviewed 36 registered nurses who work in Windsor or Michigan. Over the past few weeks, they've conducted follow-up interviews with 19. In some cases, the conversations were even grimmer.
"Most nurses we spoke to were tired, depressed, angry, and looking to get out if they hadn't left already," said Dana Menard, a psychology professor and one of the four researchers conducting the study.
Some have taken early retirement, stress leave, or switched jobs.
Even though the COVID-19 numbers are down in Windsor-Essex and across the country, they said the workload has not decreased.
Menard said infected patients are in the hospital longer, and some hospitals are trying to address a long backlog of procedures and surgeries postponed at the height of the pandemic.
"Nurses are telling us, 'We can't catch our breath.' They haven't been able to take time off, or if they did, they felt guilty doing so," she explained.
Aside from the workload, researchers asked what else contributed to their level of stress. Many expressed anger about anti-vaccination campaigns.
Some even cared for patients whose families had taken part in anti-mask rallies. Others deleted their social media accounts to avoid "demoralizing" anti-vaccination messages.
The nurses were not asked if they had been vaccinated, but all volunteered they got their shots early.
Wage disparity was another point of contention. While some hospitals used big bonuses to lure new nurses to the profession, there was no money to keep the people who had been weathering the pandemic for more than a year.
The researchers hope to reconnect with the nurses again in three to five years to see how the pandemic impacted their lives over the long term. The team hopes to get government grants to continue their study.
The University of Windsor's Office of the Vice-President of Research and Innovation and the WE-Spark Health Institute conducted the study. Windsor Regional Hospital, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and St. Clair College also supported the research.
