Safety Tips for Frontline Healthcare Workers Including the Use of Berkey Water Filter
Healthcare workers are sacrificing a lot due to this pandemic. The world faces a battle that doesn’t require the military, but the medical community as the frontliners. Over the last several months, plenty of doctors and nurses have already lost their lives due to the virus. However, healthcare workers still keep on fighting. They understand the need to serve, and there are still many people who keep getting ill each day. If you’re among these healthcare workers, you deserve to be called a hero. However, it doesn’t mean that you should sacrifice your health while working. Doctors and nurses barely have enough breaks to eat their food. You should at least drink plenty of water to get you through the day. It’s even better if you can get water from the big Berkey water filter. It guarantees the cleanliness of the drinking water.
You’re already battling a deadly disease. You don’t want to become ill for another reason. Apart from getting enough water, these are the other health and safety tips to consider if you’re a frontline worker.
Read the guidelines
The novel coronavirus is something that no one expected to face. Everything about it is new, hence the name. Even during your years as a healthcare student, you might have never encountered this type of virus. As such, it’s important always to read the guidelines and policies regarding handling patients with COVID-19. Bring the handbook with you at all times to know what to do in certain situations. It would help if you also realized that these guidelines change all the time. Each day, something new is discovered about this virus. You have to keep yourself abreast with these changes to stay safe.
Prioritize safety at all times
Never go to work without the necessary protective personal equipment. You have to protect yourself before protecting other people. The problem is that there’s already a shortage of protective equipment worldwide due to the overwhelming demands. There are alternatives available, and make sure that they’re safe enough. Demand the use of the equipment from your employer before you sign up for work.
Take a break if you can no longer take it
Given the number of infections, some hospitals are already at capacity. The place where you’re currently working, patients may come every few minutes. It could be exhausting. Some of them even seek medical attention when it’s already late. Therefore, you have to rush to save lives. You’re doing a great job of helping those in need. However, if you already feel overwhelmed, you need to learn when to take a break. Otherwise, your safety could be at risk. It’s even possible that you couldn’t do your job well because you aren’t in perfect physical condition. Spend a few minutes outside to breathe before getting back to work.
Stay in an isolation facility
Even if you wore protective equipment at work, there’s no guarantee that you haven’t been exposed to a patient who tested positive for it. Therefore, it’s safe if you decide to stay away from your family. It might be painful, but it’s necessary to protect them. If you have children and the elderly at home, you might put them at risk. Stay in an isolation facility for a while until you take a long break from work.
Never engage with angry patients
It’s not easy dealing with a novel virus. Some patients have worse symptoms than others. Some are already ill with other physical conditions before getting infected with the virus. You can only imagine how much pain they are in. When you receive these patients in the hospital, some of them might be angry. They complain about everything they feel. You have to be empathetic. You don’t know how difficult it is for them to get through the virus and survive. Sure, you’re in a difficult place because of the overwhelming responsibility, but you have to keep serving. You might also be at risk if you decide to argue with people who couldn’t think clearly. Stay calm and let these patients express how they feel. Try your best to provide medical care and ignore the difficult aspect.
Take care of your mental health
With everything that’s happening, it’s easy for you to suffer from a mental health problem. Seeing dozens of people die each day isn’t normal. If you’ve been in the healthcare industry for several years, it’s rare to find someone dying on your watch. However, due to the severity of this illness, there are tons of recorded deaths each day.
If you couldn’t take it anymore, you need to see a mental health expert. You can pretend that everything is okay when it’s not. Your mental condition might also impact your ability to serve. Add to that the fact that you have to be away from the people you love. These piling challenges could take a toll on you. Before you hurt yourself, you need to ask for help. There’s no shame in consulting with a mental health expert.
Report the challenges to your heads
You might have been used to the challenges of the job. You already went through a lot from the lack of protective equipment to the difficulty of dealing with sick patients. However, it doesn’t mean that you should accept reality. If there are things that you can change, you have to report it to your heads. For instance, if you don’t think there are enough gloves and masks for everyone, you have to speak out about it. It would help if you also talked about the lack of machines to help patients breathe. You have to do your shower and make sure that no one else dies in the hospital where you work.
It might take time before we can get through this pandemic. However, you’re already a hero, and you need to know that. Once this is over, you have to take a break. You deserve it.
