During the first surge of COVID-19 cases, intensive care units (ICUs) were the hardest hit of clinical environments due to the prevalence and nature of the disease and the exceptionally increased demand for treatment (NHS England/NHS Improvement, 2020). One particular problem affecting staff wellbeing was the lack of properly trained ICU nurses available to care for such high numbers of patients, leading to increased psychological burden, anxiety and depression (Heesakkers et al, 2021). In order to support ICUs, redeployment of staff throughout the NHS was organised to ensure that critically ill patients received the life-saving treatments needed, while also aiming to optimise staffing ratios and improve staff wellbeing (Royal College of Nursing (RCN), 2020a). It is a requirement of my NHS role to undertake redeployment when necessary. As the pandemic took hold my colleagues and I were required to be flexible and to quickly adapt to an evolving situation, to learn new practical and theoretical skills, including a need to understand the fundamentals of ICU nursing.
Twelve months ago we were faced with numerous unknowns surrounding COVID-19 that in turn created stress and mixed emotions for many who were redeployed and shared the challenge alongside our ICU colleagues (Sykes and Pandit, 2020). I often found myself internalising those feelings, attributing the cause of stress to the impact of having to be redeployed, often into a far more demanding nursing role—something that appears to have impacted the wellbeing of many on the frontline (Vera San Juan et al, 2021). To ensure the move to a new role was successful, redeployment also required us to embrace the further challenge of working with different staff members within well-established teams on a daily basis. I recall one particular shift when I experienced being a ward nurse, and then a respiratory, anaesthetic, ICU and recovery nurse in the space of 12 hours. Looking back I realise I no doubt got through that shift on adrenaline and nervous energy; but get through it I did, and managed because of the quality teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration, skilled correctly to achieve a shared goal at a particularly critical time, ensuring our patients received the specialist care they required.
Twelve months on, I now reflect upon this chaotic and challenging time as a period of intense learning and personal growth, although at the same time I freely admit that my own wellbeing has certainly been affected by the things I've seen and been involved in. It has been important for me to consciously take a step back and allow myself to take time and make use of the wellbeing services available within my Trust to come to terms with the immense demands that we as nurses experienced. The result is that I feel proud to have been on the frontline, knowing the overall experience has strengthened my resolve to perform well as a nurse. I feel encouraged about being a part of the future of nursing as we start to see some light ahead, knowing what we can achieve together in the darkest of times. The overriding lesson I have taken on board is to understand the relevance and importance of redeployment.
‘Redeployment’ no longer means me worrying at night about how I'm going to cope the following day or questioning why I'm required to upskill and function beyond my normal skillset. I have come to put others' needs before my own and fully understand what ‘redeployment’ as a wider concept means: looking out for and assisting my colleagues Trust-wide when they are in need of help. As the RCN (2020b) describes, it is the requirement to be flexible by working outside of our usual practice, in unfamiliar clinical areas, for the benefit of our patients. Therefore, it is the willingness to step out of our comfort zones to assist our colleagues who have become overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the task. In essence, it is the sharing of responsibility.