Unbiased Narrative 1.4 | I never thought about a pandemic realistically | Felicity Li
Not so dear 2020,
You were a stressful year. You were also a year of introspection. With social distancing being the new norm, I had to evaluate with who all I wanted to remain in close contact. You made me reevaluate my life, which is a positive thing.
In nursing school, we learn about infection control. But, I never thought about a pandemic realistically. And, when it happened, it changed the way we live all around the world. I was taken by surprise. When I reflect, the period around which the lockdown was declared seems intriguing now but it was very stressful then. My classmates and I were going through our first clinicals. As part of clinicals, we go to the hospital for hands-on experience of working with patients. We still had 4 to 5 shifts remaining then. When the emergency was declared, we got an initial email from our instructors that they will update us on the next steps. I remember discussing with one of my classmates and wondering if we were expected to fulfill the remaining shifts. I was nervous. But, two to three days later, we were notified that we did not have to finish our remaining shifts. That email was a big relief. We did not know much about COVID–19 then except that it is dangerous and fatal. I was scared of the virus and not having to do the clinicals made me feel a little safer. My risk of coming in contact with the virus became lower.
Post that, our semester moved to online classes. I feel that our batch got lucky. The first two years are mostly theoretical and we have less on-field learning. So, moving online was not harmful or a loss. In fact, online classes help me save a lot of time on my commute. It is less stressful and more comfortable. I can choose to wake up just ten minutes before the class.
A whole bunch of new things sprung up in our university that wouldn’t have happened if not for this pandemic. One of them was a ‘rapid response system’. I took rapid response training as part of my ‘community nursing’ course. We were assisting the government in contact tracing. We were informing people who tested positive or were having symptoms or people who came in contact with a COVID-19 infected person about the protocols. This learning was interesting. I got a better glimpse of how organizations especially the government are handling COVID–19 cases.
In the fall of 2020, I got the opportunity to practice mental health nursing, a field in which I want to establish my career. The good thing was that I could do it in person. I could meet my classmates and the patients. When in hospital, we could directly interact with the patients with proper measures such as wearing masks and gloves. COVID-19 has negatively impacted mental health. I feel people have generally been more stressed out in recent years and this pandemic has aggravated it more. Some people like grocery shop workers, bus drivers have to go out for work every day and are at a higher risk and this is stressful for them. And there are a whole lot of different challenges with social isolation. To add to all, there is financial stress too.
When I started my first in-person clinical post-COVID-19, I was under stress and felt nervous. My classmates and I thought that we were going to be at a higher risk of contracting the virus now. It was an entirely new experience and overwhelming at times. Alberta was hit hard then and we had to switch hospitals within two weeks. But, the more time I spent on the clinical, I felt better. I am more comfortable now with the proper infection control in place. Also, I am constantly looking at others taking care of critical cases, which is motivating. And, when I started my acute clinical this year, I was more confident. Currently, the spread of the variants has added stress to our healthcare system and raised doubts whether the existing vaccines are that effective on variants. I got my first dose of vaccine and they are definitely better than nothing. When the pandemic was declared, I had read that it takes 12–18 months to create vaccines. And, the Pfizer vaccine was announced in December. It was unexpected and incredibly good news.
Taking care of patients in a pandemic is stressful. Meeting my classmates and talking about the situation has helped me in this period. I am always connected with my family and friends. I am grateful for my family’s situation. My mum is a stay-at-home parent and my father works as a computer programmer and he can work from home. My sister who is a computer programmer too works from home. I feel fortunate that they can choose to not step out. In the initial days, I had considered coming back home to Vancouver when the classes had moved online. But, I wouldn’t have been able to focus much on my studies at home plus there is a time difference of one hour. Moreover, with the thought of quarantining, I decided against the move. It got my parents worried though. Since my mom had previously worked in healthcare, she was confident with the practices the healthcare professionals follow to protect themselves. Also, our faculties had confirmed that we would not be working in COVID-19 wards. That was some relief for my family.
Pandemic and its tough measures have given me more free time. I have started to cook more often and practice Yoga. And sometimes, when I am anxious or stressed out, I step out for walks. A breath of fresh air always helps.
When all of this is over, I would meet up with my loved ones more often. Before this pandemic, I took them for granted. I will hang out with my friends and classmates. I am going to try out new things, which I haven’t done or seen in the city.
(Felicity is a third-year nursing student at the University of Alberta. She currently lives in Edmonton).
