Over 25 years ago, I embarked on my nursing career with a simple yet profound mission: to make a positive impact on the lives of my patients. Nursing, for me, was a way to deliver compassion in tangible ways, bringing care and kindness into the most vulnerable moments of a person’s life. Over time, I worked in a variety of settings, each one presenting unique challenges and opportunities for growth. Nursing is an incredibly vast field, offering countless specialties, and I had the privilege of navigating many of them.
One of the most fulfilling aspects of my career was precepting student nurses. My goal was to teach with compassion and kindness—qualities I had to learn on my own, as my preceptors did not always extend the same courtesies. I wanted my students to understand how to follow procedures accurately while also balancing the demands of daily nursing duties in a timely manner. I showed them how to navigate their responsibilities with empathy, something that can often be lost in the rush of hospital, nursing home, home health, hospice and so many more settings on a daily basis. The gratitude I received from patients and their families was deeply fulfilling. Yet, I also encountered situations where, no matter how hard I tried, some people simply could not be pleased.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. We worked in unimaginable conditions. There was a constant shortage of staff, and the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) became a daily concern. Management, unfortunately, did little to help. Instead, we were given more and more responsibilities without the necessary support. Threats of termination were constantly looming if we failed to complete every task assigned to us. At times, the expectations were simply impossible—such as just one nurse being asked to care for up to 60 patients in a single shift, while managing all the required documentation, assessments, medications, treatments, and dealing with emergencies like falls, admissions, or even deaths, as well as staffing and overseeing the direct care staff.
On top of these overwhelming tasks, healthcare workers were mandated to take the COVID-19 vaccine, often without the ability to voice our concerns about its rapid rollout & potential safety risks. We had no choice: it was take the vaccine or lose your job. That sense of powerlessness and lack of control only exacerbated the already mounting stress. It’s not surprising that so many of us—myself included—began to feel the crushing weight of burnout.
I am still grappling with the anger and frustration over how nurses and all healthcare workers were treated during the pandemic. It wasn’t just about the lack of PPE or the increased workload; it was about the systemic devaluation of healthcare workers. Nurses are not compensated in a way that reflects the true extent of our responsibilities, nor are the countless other healthcare workers. Management often receives incentives for squeezing more output from minimal staff, while nurses are left to bear the brunt of impossible demands. Our benefits and pay simply do not align with the magnitude of what we do each day.