川嶋みどりは、看護師歴74年、常に臨床での看護実践に軸足を置き、現在も看護教育・研究に携わる一方で、看護師たちと交流しながら、語り，書き続けている立場から述べます。
５月、全国で重症者が第3波を超えて過去最大になり関西の病院では、いのちのトリアージの危機が報じられていた頃、都内大学病院の看護師から、「もう駄目、助けて下さい！」との悲鳴に似た声が寄せられた。彼女は、都内大学病院の中堅看護師で、自分の仕事を愛し、ほこりを持って働く女性であり、昨年のかなり早い時期から、COVID-19病棟で働いていた。その彼女が「今日まで頑張り続けてきたけど、重症者も増える一方でスタッフは疲れきっています。“うつ”になったり退職を選ぶ人もいて、人手不足もピークです。看護大好きで今日まで続けて来たけど、もう無理です」と。
まさに、オリンピック大会組織委員会から日本看護協会への看護師500人派遣要請が報道されたタイミングのことであった。
看護師らの働く環境、労働条件の厳しさは今に始まったことではないが、COVID-19感染拡大により、その程度はいっそう高まっている。たとえば、ICU内の看護師らは､PPE(個人防護具)着用の下は汗だくで、のどが渇いても飲水もできずトイレもままならない状況で、。医師がグリーンゾーンに退出後も、彼らは、最低4時間、時には7～8時間もレッドゾーン内に滞在し救命処置と患者ケアのほか、時に通常業務以外の仕事も行っている。
ICU以外の病棟でも、看護師らは覚悟を定めて自己の職務を忠実に果たす努力を重ねてきた。家族への感染を恐れ自宅にも帰れず、たまに帰宅しても幼い子どもも抱けぬ辛さ。夜遅くまで働き、病院の仮眠室か自費でホテルに寝泊まりする看護師も。
医療逼迫状況下の医療現場の深刻さは、あるCOVID-19病棟の看護師の自死という痛ましい事実を発信したSNSからも想像できる。詳細は省くが、これに対する800を超えるコメントの殆どが、遂に死者が出たことへの衝撃と悼みの言葉､そしてここまで追い詰めた無策な政権への怒りであった。5233ものシェア数の多さが、医療現場の過酷な実態への人々の関心の強さを示していると思われる。
私たち看護師は、二度と同様の犠牲者を出さないだけではなく、医療の受け手になる可能性を持った全ての人たちの生命を守る上からも、東京オリンピック・パラリンピック開催強行に強く抗議し､その中止を心から願います。
Midori.Khttps://heiwa-inochi.sakuraweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Midori.K.pdf
My name is Midori Kawashima. I have been a nurse for 74 years and have always focused on clinical nursing practice. I am still been involved in nursing education and research. While communicating with nurses I keep on talking and writing about my experiences.
In May, when Japan was hit by the third wave of COVID-19, the number of severely ill people nationwide reached a record high, and hospitals in the Kansai region reported a life-threatening triage crisis. A nurse at a university hospital in Tokyo cried out to me: “I can’t take it anymore. Please help me!”
She is a mid-career nurse, a woman who loves her job, works with pride, and had been working in a COVID-19 ward since early last year. She said, “I’ve been working hard until today, but the staff is exhausted with the increasing number of severely ill patients. Some of them are depressed or choosing to quit, and the manpower shortage is at its peak. I love nursing and I’ve been doing it for a long time, but I can’t do it anymore.”
This was the same time that the media reported the news that the Organizing Committee of the Olympics was requesting the Japan Nurses Association to dispatch 500 nurses.
The work environment and conditions for nurses has always been difficult, but it became harder and harder with the spread of COVID-19. For example, nurses in the ICU are soaked in their own sweat under their PPE, and cannot even break to drink water or use the toilet. Even after the doctors leave for the green zone, they have to stay in the red zone for at least four hours, sometimes seven to eight hours, providing life-saving treatment and patient care, and sometimes doing other work beyond their normal duties.
Even in the wards other than the ICU, nurses have made an effort to fulfill their duties faithfully. They are not allowed to go home for fear of infecting their families, and when they do come home, they cannot even hold their young children. Some nurses work late and sleep in the hospital’s nap room or in a hotel at their own expense.
The seriousness of the situation in the medical field can be imagined from the social networking site that reported the tragic suicide of a nurse in a COVID-19 ward. I don’t speak in detail, but most of the more than 800 comments on the post were words of shock and mourning for the death, and anger at the inept government for pushing the situation to this point. 5,233 shares indicate the strength of people’s interest in the harsh reality of the medical field.
We nurses strongly protest the forced Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and sincerely hope that the events will be cancelled, not only to prevent similar incidents from happening again, but also to protect the lives of all potential recipients of medical care. 2021.7.10 Midori Kawashima: Honorary Professor, Japanese Red Cross College of Nursing
Midori.K.英文 https://heiwa-inochi.sakuraweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/5ba1cecb8172d926de18c50868ced0c1.pdf
