Nursing a Pandemic

     On Wednesday, I attended an event titled “Nursing a Pandemic: Mental Health.” I choose this particular event because mental health is something that is very important to me and my family. Throughout the pandemic, there has been a lot of talk and media around physical health and how to protect yourself from COVID-19. The mental health of almost everyone I know has been, in some capacity, impacted by the pandemic. The “Nursing a Pandemic” event interested me because its purpose was to address a different side of healthcare than the one that has been in the spotlight for the past year. 

The event was hosted by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and consisted of two interviews with mental health nurses. The interviewer was Catherine Gamble, the head of nursing education at the RCN. Catherine interviewed two male mental health nurses about their experience during the pandemic. The first, Douglas Hamandishe, gave his perspective as a BAME nurse during the pandemic. Next, Roland Dix spoke about some of the challenges in connecting with mental health patients. 

One of the things that was emphasized throughout the talk, by Catherine in particular, was the importance of including male perspectives in this narrative. She rooted this idea in the fact that many male stereotypes cause men to feel like they can’t express their feelings or show vulnerability to others. I found this a really interesting and unique focus that I have not thought about or heard of before. Douglas also fielded a question about the pressures of being “the man of the house.” He talked about how the pandemic took away some of his outlets that allowed him to casually talk with his friends such as pubs and watching football games. This was especially striking to me because Douglas is a trained mental health professional, yet still needs these informal settings to preserve his own mental health. This is just one example of the toll that the pandemic has taken on all people, not just those with pre-existing mental health conditions.

 Douglas also discussed the challenges of being a BAME mental health nurse during the pandemic. He emphasized the lack of training, PPE, information, and physical space that him and his colleagues were given. I found the focus of the talk very interesting because it talked about the mental health of the people who are helping others with their mental health. The discrimination and lack of support that was revealed by this trying time was a call to action for Douglas. Being able to hear the narrative of a nurse first hand was more powerful than stories I have read or heard on the news. He talked about the pressure to take shifts, both to take care of patients and to support his own family financially and how this was combined with personal exhaustion and fear of bringing COVID-19 into his own household. On top of this, going into the shift he was never sure when or where he would receive PPE. Although the shortage of PPE was talked about a lot during the pandemic, thinking about it in terms of one person’s safety changed the scope of the problem for me. 

Next, Roland discussed the difficulties he had in accessing his patients while also following the safety guidelines and protocols that they were required to follow. He mentioned that many mental health patients were unsettled by the amount of PPE that both medical personnel and patients were required to wear. He also described the element of social distancing and facial-coverings as something that inhibited his ability to connect with patients in the same way. Lastly, he touched on the negative impacts of isolation, especially for patients with mental health conditions. 

Both interviewees provided reflections on the pandemic as a historical experience rather than an ongoing event which I felt was a valuable and unique way to talk about it. I noticed some major contradictions in these reflections. Both interviewees described the ways in which the pandemic has emphasized already existing injustices. Douglas talked about the ways in which BAME nurses were treated in their time of need, while Roland talked about the discrimination that mentally ill patients face on a daily basis. However, when reflecting overall, they both agreed that the pandemic had brought people together. The virus, while it was not indiscriminate, was equalizing in the sense that everyone had to learn and adapt. Not only was there comradery between medical staff, but the barrier between doctor and patient was broken down. These reflections left me with the questions: How can an event be divisive and unifying at the same time? Will this be an opportunity for world healing or spark more disagreement?