Dublin Core
Title
Transcript of an Interview with a Registered Nurse
Subject
COVID-19
Description
An Interview with a registered nurse about the first days of the coronavirus pandemic
Creator
Kenneth Morrissey
Date
10/3/2020
Rights
All rights to this work belong to Kenneth Morrissey
Language
English
Type
Interview
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Transcript of an Interview with a Registered Nurse
Interviewer: Before we start, can you please verbally consent to this interview?
Registered Nurse: I verbally consent
Interviewer: Can you please in introduce yourself to the audience
Registered Nurse: Hello. My name is BLANK. I am a registered nurse. I have been a registered nurse for thirty five years in active practice. For twenty eight years, from the year of 1984 until 2010 (this was probably a mistake on her part), I worked at a hospital in an emergency room. Then from 2010 to 2017, I did sporadic teaching at multiple different places. I have been employed by a medical manufacturing company since August 2018 as a registered nurse.
Interviewer: When did you first learn about COVID-19?
Registered Nurse: Immediately, because being a registered nurse-although I am in manufacturing it has a lot of health care aspects to it-we were aware of it right away.
Interviewer: What were your initial reactions to the COVID-19, before it came to America?
Registered Nurse: That it would be able to be contained, like the Ebola virus was, like the SARS virus several years ago was. Neither one became an epidemic in the United States. So I thought that the United States was going to effectively handle it.
Interview: What were your reactions when COVID-19 first came to the United States and became a pandemic on March 11th?
Registered Nurse: Unbelievable. People at my job, younger people in their twenties, two nurses became sick with the COVID-19 virus. So, that made me very cautious because I am an older registered nurse. And although I am very healthy, I was concerned with my own safety. My job in the beginning did not make us wear masks, we-in our manufacturing job- do wear a face shield. So, there is protection for our face. The way that we breathe in, there is a shield in front of it. But not a mask
Interviewer: What did they say at your job on the first day that the coronavirus was declared a pandemic?
Registered Nurse: The personal protective equipment that we were already wearing when we deal with patients would be sufficient.
Interviewer: Since that point, how has your job changed?
Registered Nurse: We have more precautions in place. Besides our normal protective equipment-which is a face shield, a lab coat, and gloves-we now had to wear…well…for me-when I am up close with a patient-I wear an N-95 mask. And then the employees, along with myself when I am not doing a physical, just wear a surgical mask along with our PPE. We have advanced cleaning. We do social distancing. In the beginning of the pandemic, I would say up until June, as soon as a patient would enter the center their temperature would be taken. Their temperature has always been taken in the screening process, but now we were taking there temperature at the beginning, along with all of the employees temperature. And if the temperature was above 99.6, either the employee or the donor was asked to leave.
Interviewer: How would you say that the coronavirus
pandemic has impacted the community around your job?
Registered Nurse: Their fearful. They are not coming to my manufacturing company. And when they do come in, they want to know how we are protecting them from the coronavirus.
Interviewer: Would you say that the pandemic has affected the overall financial performance of your job’s business?
Registered Nurse: Yes, considerably. My business is making much less money since the start of the coronavirus
Interviewer: Has the coronavirus made it harder for you to do your job?
Registered Nurse: Yes, definitely. It is difficult to wear a mask. I have wear an N-95 plus a face shield…and that’s difficult. I sweat more because I have a face shield and an N-95. It’s more difficult for me to breath. My mouth gets dryer. It’s a lot more challenging.
Interviewer: Just to finish up, do you have any overall thoughts about the pandemic?
Registered Nurse: Yes. You know I lived through the world trade center attacks. I was an active registered nurse in a small community hospital. This is so very different. I mean society continued on after the 9/11 attack. Of course we were afraid, but things weren’t shut down. This, with businesses being shut down and wearing a mask and having difficulty getting food and toilet paper. With the attacks on the world trade center which is right in new York-45 minutes from where I live-there was nothing like that on 9/11. Nothing shut down. All businesses continued. This was very drastic measures that the United States took.
Interviewer: Before we start, can you please verbally consent to this interview?
Registered Nurse: I verbally consent
Interviewer: Can you please in introduce yourself to the audience
Registered Nurse: Hello. My name is BLANK. I am a registered nurse. I have been a registered nurse for thirty five years in active practice. For twenty eight years, from the year of 1984 until 2010 (this was probably a mistake on her part), I worked at a hospital in an emergency room. Then from 2010 to 2017, I did sporadic teaching at multiple different places. I have been employed by a medical manufacturing company since August 2018 as a registered nurse.
Interviewer: When did you first learn about COVID-19?
Registered Nurse: Immediately, because being a registered nurse-although I am in manufacturing it has a lot of health care aspects to it-we were aware of it right away.
Interviewer: What were your initial reactions to the COVID-19, before it came to America?
Registered Nurse: That it would be able to be contained, like the Ebola virus was, like the SARS virus several years ago was. Neither one became an epidemic in the United States. So I thought that the United States was going to effectively handle it.
Interview: What were your reactions when COVID-19 first came to the United States and became a pandemic on March 11th?
Registered Nurse: Unbelievable. People at my job, younger people in their twenties, two nurses became sick with the COVID-19 virus. So, that made me very cautious because I am an older registered nurse. And although I am very healthy, I was concerned with my own safety. My job in the beginning did not make us wear masks, we-in our manufacturing job- do wear a face shield. So, there is protection for our face. The way that we breathe in, there is a shield in front of it. But not a mask
Interviewer: What did they say at your job on the first day that the coronavirus was declared a pandemic?
Registered Nurse: The personal protective equipment that we were already wearing when we deal with patients would be sufficient.
Interviewer: Since that point, how has your job changed?
Registered Nurse: We have more precautions in place. Besides our normal protective equipment-which is a face shield, a lab coat, and gloves-we now had to wear…well…for me-when I am up close with a patient-I wear an N-95 mask. And then the employees, along with myself when I am not doing a physical, just wear a surgical mask along with our PPE. We have advanced cleaning. We do social distancing. In the beginning of the pandemic, I would say up until June, as soon as a patient would enter the center their temperature would be taken. Their temperature has always been taken in the screening process, but now we were taking there temperature at the beginning, along with all of the employees temperature. And if the temperature was above 99.6, either the employee or the donor was asked to leave.
Interviewer: How would you say that the coronavirus
pandemic has impacted the community around your job?
Registered Nurse: Their fearful. They are not coming to my manufacturing company. And when they do come in, they want to know how we are protecting them from the coronavirus.
Interviewer: Would you say that the pandemic has affected the overall financial performance of your job’s business?
Registered Nurse: Yes, considerably. My business is making much less money since the start of the coronavirus
Interviewer: Has the coronavirus made it harder for you to do your job?
Registered Nurse: Yes, definitely. It is difficult to wear a mask. I have wear an N-95 plus a face shield…and that’s difficult. I sweat more because I have a face shield and an N-95. It’s more difficult for me to breath. My mouth gets dryer. It’s a lot more challenging.
Interviewer: Just to finish up, do you have any overall thoughts about the pandemic?
Registered Nurse: Yes. You know I lived through the world trade center attacks. I was an active registered nurse in a small community hospital. This is so very different. I mean society continued on after the 9/11 attack. Of course we were afraid, but things weren’t shut down. This, with businesses being shut down and wearing a mask and having difficulty getting food and toilet paper. With the attacks on the world trade center which is right in new York-45 minutes from where I live-there was nothing like that on 9/11. Nothing shut down. All businesses continued. This was very drastic measures that the United States took.
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