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WBUR Poll Checks In With Massachusetts Nurses Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
As part of Nurse’s Week, WBUR conducted a poll of 402 Registered Nurses in Massachusetts who were working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Highlights from the poll include:
- Lack of PPE and testing availability. Even now, after all of the noise about the issue of PPE and testing, nurses still don’t think there is enough. Overall, 44% say there is not enough testing. Among those providing direct patient care, 50% say there is not enough PPE and 28% say there is not enough testing capacity.
- Those providing direct patient care are in a different world. This survey included both direct patient care nurses and those involved in some other way. Those providing direct care are more likely to be working longer hours, working outside their specialty, working in the ICU, and more likely to say they have had the symptoms themselves. They are also younger and have been a nurse for fewer years.
- In terms of the symptoms, many self-report, but few have tested positive. 14% say they have had the symptoms including 19% of those in direct patient care and 7% of all others. Among those, most tested negative. Only 3% overall have tested positive either by swab or blood test including 4% indirect care and none who are not in direct care.
For more information, please see the full report from WBUR’s Anthony Brooks.
About the WBUR Poll
These results are based on a survey of 402 working registered nurses in Massachusetts who reported working on the coronavirus crisis. A list of registered nurses in the state was obtained from the Massachusetts Health Professions License Verification site. Phone numbers were added via commercial telephone matching services.
Live telephone interviews were conducted April 30-May 2, 2020 via both landline and cell phone. Results were weighted to known population parameters for age, race, gender and region of the state obtained from “The Massachusetts Health Professions Data Series: Registered Nurse 2014 Report” as well as the database of nurses. The margin of sampling error is 4.9 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence. The poll was sponsored by WBUR, a National Public Radio station in the Boston area. The WBUR Poll was conducted by The MassINC Polling Group.