Nurses transferred to treatment units without having enough training

Nurses who are deployed to treat patients with COVID-19 at the CHU de Québec claim to be transferred to these treatment units without having the necessary training or skills.

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A little over a week ago, the CHU de Québec announced the closure of around fifteen operating theaters in all of its hospitals to send back-up staff to treat patients with the coronavirus.

The newspaper spoke with nurses who denounce their new working conditions.

Isabelle (fictitious name) works as a nurse in the operating room of the Hospital de l’Enfant-Jésus. Last Tuesday, she learned that she would be moved to a COVID-19 unit the next day.

“Without warning,” drops the nurse, who has six years of experience.

“We are bardassed on the left and on the right,” she denounces. I had a cold zone training day [zone avec des patients qui ne sont pas atteints de la COVID-19], instead of three. We had to get back into the bath. ”

Isabelle affirms that, every day, she witnesses the departure of fellow nurses who resign or go on sick leave.

Her colleague Louise (not her real name) was moved to the COVID-19 treatment unit, without notice. She learned about it last week on Wednesday and started working on it the following Friday. She also feels that her training is not sufficient.

“It’s stressful, I’m far from ready. I would have taken a week, two weeks of training, ”she says.

The nurse explains that the work in the operating room differs from that of other departments, since it is not done directly to patients, as on the other floors.

“We are on our own and these are patients who are very sick,” she continues.

Nancy Hogan, president of the Interprofessional Union of the CHU de Québec, says that these are not isolated cases and that the transfers cause a lot of stress for nurses.

“We want to make sure they have support. I repeated to them that we risked departures or illnesses and we do not have these means, ”she says.

At the CHU de Québec, we admit that the situation is not ideal and that efforts are being made to minimize the impact of transfers. “This is a difficult and stressful time for many stakeholders, we understand the situation,” said Bryan Gélinas, spokesperson.