Nurses working in Intensive Care Units across the country have spoken of the anxiety they face as they wait for the surge in Covid-19 cases to begin.
Many have been retrained from other nursing duties or have had their units converted to critical care to meet the expected surge. "Day in day out, there is a lot of stress and a lot of anticipation," Emma, a nurse in the mid-west told RTÉ's This Week programme. "You're waiting and wondering when is the surge going to happen. "Right now our unit is being adapted to allow for intensive care patients if the ICU comes under pressure." Margaret Frahill, a nurse manager in Cork and member of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, told This Week: "Everyone is out of their comfort zone." Nurses