COVID-19 update: working together and flattening the curve

The worldwide pandemic COVID-19 has caused our lives to become unrecognisable. Aesthetic nurses have closed their businesses, furloughed staff and are waiting to see if claims with insurances companies go through. Many have gone back into the NHS to work on the frontline. Personally, I am SARS-CoV-2 testing NHS staff with symptoms for potential COVID-19. Worldwide reflective accounts from nurses working on the frontline are available on all media platforms, the accounts are distressing, but regardless of how awful they may be, they are also humane in their compassion. Nurses are experts in the art and science of care. Some will have harrowing stories to tell about the lack of PPE. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has been proactive in advising its members on what to do if there is a lack of PPE, along with the legality of refusing to treat—obviously this is a ‘last resort’ (RCN, 2020). Some nurses will find that they are working entirely outside of their comfort zones; others will have gone back to roles they left or still work in part-time (Stephenson, 2020). Dame Donna Kinnair, the RCN chief executive and general secretary, has ensured that our fellow nurses who have died will be remembered not just as ‘some nurses’.