Nurses face new challenges against COVID-19.

Interview done by: Nouran Elfayoumy

(The spirit of nurses in quarantine)

Photo credit (Naglaa Khalil Mohammed)

Nurses stand up to fight the COVID-19 since the start of the quarantine at Al-Ajami typical hospital on Saturday 7 March 2020.

In light of the increasing number of people infected with COVID-19 in hospitals, the nurses insisted on staying next to their patients and helping them to cope with the COVID-19. Naglaa Khalil Mohammed, 47 years old. She works as a nursing supervisor in the dialysis unit of Al-Ajmi Hospital for isolation. on March 7, 2020, they informed her of the hospital's transfer to quarantine due to COVID-19 conditions and the willingness to receive any infected patient at any time. The hospital began training her on how to deal with the situation, patients. And how to protect herself from the transmission of the virus to her. A week later, they told her that she would receive the first two cases of kidney failure patients infected with the COVID-19. The situation was very tense and frightening, "but nonetheless we were able to contain the situation and deal with it well, then we received other patients". She said tha

In the beginning of the transformation of the hospital into quarantine, the situation was optional, staying in the hospital or going to work in another hospital until the end of the quarantine period, but Naglaa chose to stay in the quarantine inside Al-Ajami Hospital to remain in quarantine to help cases infected with the virus. She remained in quarantine for 42 days, with no exit to her home and family, although it is assumed that she will only stay two weeks and leave two weeks off in order to be able to restore her activity, she has been doing her job well inside the hospital. The first two periods were working as a nursing supervisor in the dialysis unit, the third and last period she was working as a role supervisor assisting follow nurses with care for patients. She said, "Leaving the quarantine and going to my home makes me feel like I'm giving up on my patients and my co-workers."

According to the World Health Organization "addressing" the nurses, the United Nations Secretary-General said, "We are more than ever grateful to all of you, as you work around the clock and put yourselves at risk, to fight the scourge of this pandemic." Everyone was recently interested in a lot of all work and singled out industry and commerce, No one mentioned us except a little after the presence of COVID-19 has become much more important to us than before and recognized the importance of nursing, so hospitals and how important their work is, we are now responsible for carry out the treatment for patients, and for their psychological condition in order to get out of this ordeal safely. like we have a positive thing, but we face incidents that make us feel sad, such as the patient Fatma, who was infected with COVID-19 and she was pregnant, Fatma and her daughter died after we tried to save her, All the hospital team feel sadness and depression, including doctors, nurses, and workers. Shortly after that, our colleague Amal infected with the COVID-19, Amal is the hospital's chief of nursing, the infection transmitted to Amal from the doctor who’s follow up the patient Fatma, and she is now in quarantine receiving treatment, with many cases that make us sad, there is also what gives us hope. before Ramadan. We have hospital security personnel, who have purchased Ramadan lanterns and distributed them to the children in the quarantine, in appreciation of their psychological state because of the quarantine, with all love to relieve them. She said, “I feel like we are one family inside the quarantine, I feel happy when a patient recovers and goes home, But I feel sad because they will leave us”

she always starts with patients as a first priority in her career. This does not mean that she has no obligations towards her well-being and her family but she always faces questions such as, "Is it possible for her to harm her family by returning home from work?" And "How does she balance the needs of her loved ones with the endless needs of patients?" But she always sees support from them, especially her children and her husband. They see that she doing a great job, and from the beginning, they helped her make the decision to stay inside the quarantine and not to go to another hospital.

she has the dream that this pandemic highlight and elevates the central role nurses play in health care. In her opinion many different ways nurses can contribute, adapt, and lead. she also hopes that they can get rid of the COVID-19 and return the situation as it was without any pandemic with the least possible losses. she said, all my thinking in how long will we remain inside this quarantine?.