I volunteered as a nurse's aide during the pandemic. Here's what I learned

This past spring, at the height of the pandemic, I volunteered to be redeployed as a nurse’s aide at a Barrie, Ont. hospital. While I took this on as a personal challenge and a chance to give back, I could not be more grateful for what this incredible experience taught me. I’d like to share my thoughts with my fellow pharmacists and other healthcare peers. Just before the pandemic, I had lost my grandmother who was a role model and a key part of my support system. I was unable to be with her when she passed and was not able to spend the time with her I had intended. This was my first time experiencing the loss of a loved one with whom I had shared such a close relationship. I was learning to grieve her loss and come to terms with this new void in my life. The pandemic was declared a couple of months later, and the resulting uncertainty took a toll on me and my wellbeing. I still can’t describe how I felt at the time. Could it be called helplessness? Guilt? Grief? Identity crisis? Rediscovering myself? I’m still not sure. But after introspection and working on myself over the following months, I realized I needed to be in an environment where I could offer practical assistance, be more hands-on and help care for those isolated from their families due to the pandemic. I had experienced and understood that sinking feeling when you can’t care for your loved ones when they need you the most. That was my motivation to pursue this redeployment. Disclaimer: These reflections are purely a personal opinion and are based solely on my observations. These are personal thoughts which may or may not resonate with all readers. I respect all opinions and thoughts that may arise as you read this post, and if you would like to discuss any concerns, please do comment below or reach out to me to share your opinions on the same. I am open to feedback of all kinds. Here are my reflections, based on my time volunteering to care for patients: Live your life like there is no tomorrow—During my redeployment, I witnessed multiple lives lost; unfortunately, in most cases without their loved ones at their bedside. That served as a wakeup call for me to pull myself out of self pity. Such experiences teach you to appreciate the smaller things in life, and this redeployment has done just that. It reminded me of what truly mattered to me the most and also helped me envision how I wish to live my life moving forward. I know many colleagues and friends who have worked tirelessly on the frontlines dedicating more time and hours to help their patients during this pandemic. As healthcare providers, we are faced with a conundrum of how to create that balance between our professional and personal commitments. I urge you to take a break whenever you need to and look after yourself and your loved ones. I have learned to make sure that I tell my loved ones how much I cherish them every single day. Check in with yourself and your loved ones—If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the importance of taking care of our mental, physical, and emotional health. I know firsthand the impact this pandemic has had on all aspects of my health. I did not realize I was changing till my family sat me down and asked me how I was doing. I was unable to pinpoint what was wrong with me. I had to sit down and reflect on what I truly needed to feel, act and do to be myself again. Introspection and journaling allowed me to see the changes and seek additional supports to help cope with the massive shift that recent events and the pandemic had created for me. Seek support whenever you need it—As healthcare providers, we take pride in our roles of being care providers but do not realize when we need care to be provided to us. Thankfully my family’s early intervention and support helped me to introspect and seek out additional supports through the employee assistance program offered at my workplace. Most workplaces offer such programs, but many of us have never really utilized them, and don’t even know how to access them. I would encourage all employers to send routine reminders to ensure employees are reminded of the resources available for them through the workplace. We also have the Ontario Pharmacy Health Program which the Ontario College of Pharmacists has established for all its members. Some provinces (Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia) offer other similar supports to residents for free. A stigma continues to exist around the dialogue of mental health. We need to normalize seeking support and stop perceiving it as a sign of weakness. To me, asking for help and support as a means to becoming the best version of myself is a sign of self-awareness. Get involved in the community—As I began to understand my feelings and emotions around my loss and the stress of the pandemic, I knew I had to be involved in work that gave me an opportunity to be more hands-on. The redeployment offered just that! During the pandemic, volunteering in all forms declined, was almost non-existent. In the wise words of Mahatma Gandhi, I was able to ‘find myself in the service of others.’ I now realize the importance of being more actively involved in the community as a volunteer once such programs open up post-pandemic. I learned that for me, giving back through effort helped me feel more connected with my purpose; much more than monetary contributions would. I felt a sense of purpose and true happiness when I realized the difference my small acts had on humans I interacted with through this experience. Those small acts ranged from taking the time to make a patient laugh and minimize their stress before their surgery to removing dirty linen from rooms to reduce the workload of my colleagues. When you feel stuck, something needs to change—I know very well how stuck I felt. I needed to do something to remove myself from the cycle of helplessness. I am grateful that I was able to get such an opportunity which not only provided me with a change in my work setting, but even sent me to a new city for a while. Whenever you feel like nothing is working out the way you want, and there does not seem to be another door that is open, take time to be introspective and ask yourself what you need to do to realign with your core values and be your truest and happiest self. Once you get your answer, pursue it with action. The past two years have been the most challenging in my life. But in hindsight, I have learned and gained experiences which I may never have otherwise, had it not been for these circumstances. Use the lows that life provides you with to pursue opportunities where you can get involved in activities you may have never done before. You just never know what follows that random opportunity you decide to embrace. It may just be the change you have been waiting for. Continue to challenge the ‘norm’—A pharmacist being a nurses’ aide is not that common, it seems. All the individuals, including healthcare providers and patients, were truly surprised that I, a pharmacist, chose to be a part of this redeployment. Yes, there were times where I was completely clueless about what I was doing, but the time I spent in my redeployment, I was truly the happiest version of myself in a very long time and glad that I was able to represent pharmacists in a very unconventional role. Don’t hesitate to do something which has never been done before, rather do that very thing, as long as your actions result in the wellbeing of everyone involved (and make sure to run it by the College to ensure you know what is within your scope and what is not, and what your liability insurance covers). We need to do better with creating awareness of our profession—The many patients I encountered during my redeployment were surprised that a pharmacist was helping out in their personal care. The most frequently asked question by the patients was “Which store was I working at?” So when I explained that my pharmacy job does not involve any dispensing, the surprise was quite visible. We cannot blame them. The imagery provided to patients is that of a pharmacist behind the counter counting pills on the holy grail of stock images, the blue or green counting trays. I took these opportunities to educate patients on the various roles pharmacists play and how their pharmacists help them with their health and medications during the hospital stay and post discharge. Patients can help advocate for us too, we just need to explain what we do for them. I have been guilty of this myself in the past, where I used to troubleshoot for my patients without them knowing how much time and effort it took for me to help them. Our strength lies in our unity—During my redeployment, I truly understood and witnessed first-hand the strong sense of community that prevails within the nursing profession. To see community nurses welcomed and accepted into the teams instantly by the hospital nurses was a learning moment for me. Having worked in a lot of different settings and through shared experiences with my friends and peers, I have not yet experienced such a strong sense of community within our profession across various settings. No doubt the pandemic has brought us closer together than we may have ever been before. We need to unify as a profession for our voices to be heard loud and clear. The fragmentation within our profession (hospital vs community pharmacist, independent vs chain vs banner, etc.) is real, and we must break the silos and work together to help each other and our profession to truly find its value and worth within the healthcare ecosystem. As practitioners we are valued by teams who have a direct access to us, however, the same cannot be said of policymakers and decision makers, who often do not understand the value we bring to our patients and healthcare system in Canada (until recently). Outside of our associations led advocacy efforts, let’s advocate for each other and be each other’s support to truly improve our practice and intra-professional collaboration. Leverage inter-professional collaboration—As a profession we are valued by our peers and colleagues for the invaluable support we provide with our medication management knowledge and expertise. We need to focus on creating inclusive, innovative and collaborative practices which account for the strengths that each healthcare profession bring and even seek these collaborations for our advocacy efforts. To the outside world, we may not be as open and inclusive for collaboration, which we know is not a fact but we need to talk more and highlight such practices to further promote inter-professional collaboration and allyship. Debrief with your team—When I ended my redeployment and returned to my primary workplace, I was provided an opportunity to group together with my other colleagues and experts from the organization to debrief, process and share my feelings and experiences from the redeployment. As an employee, I was truly grateful for that opportunity to debrief and share my feelings about the entire experience. In such situations, it becomes easier to process difficult emotions, and also presents an opportunity to share knowledge on what works and what doesn’t about the process. I would highly recommend that we all collect together and debrief post the pandemic to share best practices, what has and hasn’t worked, thoughts and feelings about the roller coaster ride the pandemic has taken our professional and personal lives on, and to learn from each other to appreciate a bit more about what this pandemic has taught us and the crazy journey we have all been through in the past year and a half (and counting). To say that this redeployment has helped me find myself again would be an understatement. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to share my reflections with you. If you got this far, then I am truly thankful to you for taking the time to read the post and welcome any thoughts and feedback. Aska Patel is a consultant pharmacist in Brampton, Ont. who volunteered to work as a nurses’ aide at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, Ont. Aska’s experience was documented by Toronto Life magazine.

I volunteered as a nurse's aide during the pandemic. Here's what I learned

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