NSW emergency department nurse reveals what she looks like after shift
A NSW emergency department nurse has shared a video showing the harrowing effect of wearing full PPE for 12 hours straight.
An Australian nurse has shared confronting footage of what it’s like to work a 12-hour shift in the fight against Covid-19.
Mother-of-two Katie, who works in the emergency department of a NSW hospital, filmed herself before and after a night shift to show the harrowing effects of wearing full personal protective equipment.
In a TikTok video that has been viewed almost 100,000 times, Katie moves her head from left to right to show viewers bright red imprints from her surgical-grade N95 mask on her nose and cheeks.
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The deep lines are caused from the suction of her face shield.
“A night shift makeover,” she captioned the post alongside the hashtag “nurselife”.
After sharing the video on Sunday, hundreds of people have since commented, thanking Katie for her incredible service, with fellow nurses also sharing their experiences.
“Wow looks like you have been to war! Thanks for your service,” one TikTok user wrote.
“Never complaining about my face mask again,” said another.
“We [are] in the same boat my sister! I’m a cardiac nurse and we’re getting absolutely smashed. We can do this,” a nurse added, while a fourth wrote: “As a first year nurse student I admire you so much, thank you for what you’re doing. We see you.”
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It comes after Katie posted another video condemning anti-lockdown protests that took place on Saturday.
The nurse, who usually specialises in cosmetic injectibles, but is currently working in a paediatric emergency department, also shared more confronting detail of what life is like working on the frontline in the fight against the virus.
Katie, whose police officer husband was part of the thousands of officers deployed for the Sydney rally, said people’s “selfishness” is what upsets her the most.
“People are making selfish decisions based on their thoughts and feelings and not thinking about how this impacts everyone else in Australia,” she said.
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“I am all for everyone having their own opinion – by all means if you don’t want to get the vaccine don’t get it – but having a rally like that then puts everyone else who is doing the right thing at risk,” she said.
“I am about to go into a 12-hour shift where you have to wear full PPE all day and by the end of the day, I will be starting to develop pressure areas to my face from the pressure of the mask.”
Katie said she will develop a headache from dehydration as access to water is not readily available.
“To go to the toilet we have to be taking off all of our gear, throwing it away, cleaning up … so you talk about your ‘freedom’, but you are putting everyone else’s freedom at risk.
“Wearing PPE is not about freedom, wearing PPE is about infection control.
“So I will go into work today and I will wear it because I am wanting to prevent other people from getting sick and also prevent myself from catching it.”
Katie went on to say she is “disappointed” at how people who went to the rally can be so “self-centred”.
“If you don’t want the vaccine, nobody is going to hold you down and force you to have it, but then don’t expect to have the privileges that the rest of this country can have from trying to prevent this virus from spreading.”
Health care workers sporting injured faces from PPE have become a common sight around the world as they work long shifts to save lives.
In March last year, a photo of Italian nurse Alessia Bonari with a bruised and red face went viral, summing up the horror situation the country was facing at the time as it was overwhelmed by cases.
In NSW, there are currently 608 Covid-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 107 people in intensive care, 34 of whom require ventilation.
There were 138,472 Covid-19 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 311,083.
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