A different way of nursing

The resultant effect of over 40 000 nursing vacancies before the COVID-19 pandemic, our current workforce absence level being high because some colleagues are off sick or shielding, and with the current lockdown on international movement meaning that our planned pipeline of international nurses joining us has ceased, has required us to review how we nurse our patients.

Fortunately, the NHS did not see the predicated overwhelming rise in demand, and occupancy levels have remained lower than originally thought. However, with a very different practice environment requiring constant use of personal protective equipment (PPE), a national ‘no visitors’ policy and the level of unavailability of staff, has required us to look at alternative models of nursing.

My clinical background is in critical care, and this is where I have undertaken weekly clinical shifts during the COVID-19 response. The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (2019), which publishes guidelines for the provision of intensive care standards, details the contribution of a wide variety of roles that support patient care from a medical, nursing and allied health professional perspective. The faculty has always advocated that level 3 patients (those requiring advanced respiratory support alone, or basic respiratory support together with support of at least two organ systems) must have a registered nurse/patient ratio of a minimum of 1:1 to deliver direct care.