Low staffing levels in Northern BC taking a toll on the mental health of nurses

A BC Nurses Union (BCNU) survey shows the mental health of their members has taken a dive due to the changing COVID-19 restrictions.

The survey, compiled by UBC, said nurses coping with the changing protocols are more likely to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as anxiety and depression.

BCNU president, Christine Sorensen told Vista Radio the north is getting hit fairly hard because of reduced staffing levels.

“We do know in the north nurses have struggled with difficulties with staffing for a very, very long time. The Auditor General’s report tells us that we need 25% more nurses in the north because they are struggling with a lower number of nurses per population.”

“Many nurses have been impacted simply because of the care that patients require, the number of deaths, particularly those in long term care or they have been infected with COVID themselves or know family members that have been.”

When asked if nurses feel like they are walking on eggshells due to the evolving nature of the pandemic, especially when it comes to restrictions, Sorensen admits nursing staff has done a bang-up job in trying to keep up.

“It is one of the unique aspects of being a nurse is that we have always adapted to whatever comes in the door of an acute care facility or long-term care. Unfortunately, we have had to adapt so much in the past year to changing policies whether it’s around personal protective equipment or how we care for patients,” said Sorensen.

Sorensen adds with a potential third wave looming in the background, health authorities are in a race against the clock to get enough of the population vaccinated so that the variants of concern don’t interfere with the progress that’s been made.

“We know that if we don’t get ahead of them they will take over and we will eventually have more cases and what that means is with more cases additional people will probably have more complex COVID could end up in the hospital and possibly into the ICU and unfortunately some will die.”

“We are rolling out this vaccination program as quickly as we can across British Columbia and it’s important we get as many people vaccinated as possible but it really is a race between getting that vaccine into the arms of everyone and beating the variants of concern as they multiply and begin to spread.”