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Gómez-Brufal-Flores M, Hueso-Montoro C, Esteban-Burgos AA, Montoya-Juárez R, Mota-Romero E, Capilla-Díaz C, Puente-Fernández D. Attitudes and experiences related to the deaths of COVID-19 patients among nursing staff: A qualitative evidence synthesis. J Adv Nurs 2024; 80:580-596. [PMID: 37548340 DOI: 10.1111/jan.15815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2022] [Revised: 05/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
AIM To identify and synthesize the experiences and attitudes of nursing staff regarding the deaths of COVID-19 patients. REVIEW METHODS A qualitative evidence synthesis was carried out, using Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnographic approach. The review protocol was listed in PROSPERO (CRD42022330928). Studies published from January 2020 to January 2022 that met the criteria were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL, CUIDEN and PsycInfo. A total of 12 articles were included. RESULTS Thirty-three metaphors emerged, which were grouped into three main themes: Determining factors of care, Feelings about death and Strategies for coping with death. Nurses reported the high emotional toll, the absence of family and the lack of staff, protocol and training as determining factors. Furthermore, staff had doubts about the quality of care that COVID-19 patients received. As coping strategies, nurses developed avoidance behaviours towards COVID-19 patients, selective memories, resilience, and/or leaving the profession. CONCLUSIONS The difficulty in providing adequate nursing care and the high number of deaths has increased anxiety and stress among nurses. These factors, alongside their lived experiences of seeing patients suffering, many dying alone without family members, have had psychological repercussions on nursing staff. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE The results demonstrate a high emotional toll and doubts surrounding their caregiving role caused by the lack of professional training needed to face a pandemic. This research shows what has been learned for future pandemics and highlights basic components that could provide a foundation for coping interventions for healthcare professionals. IMPACT WHAT PROBLEM DID THE STUDY ADDRESS?: The challenges posed by COVID-19 patient deaths for nursing staff around the world and also by the pandemic circumstances in which those deaths occurred. WHAT WERE THE MAIN FINDINGS?: The high number of deceased patients who were isolated from family members, communication with family members and doubts surrounding care given during the pandemic have created feelings of fear, stress and anxiety, as well as obsessive thoughts that have changed nursing staff's perception of death due to COVID-19. WHERE AND ON WHOM WILL THE RESEARCH HAVE AN IMPACT?: Results will be useful for preparing for future pandemics, and for policymakers and health staff in supporting healthcare professionals by creating programmes to help them cope with the emotional toll they have felt after dealing with death in such unprecedented circumstances. REPORTING METHOD The authors have adhered to the PRISMA guidelines and the eMERGe Reporting Guidance. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION No patient or public contribution.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - César Hueso-Montoro
- Department of Nursing, University of Jaén, Jaén, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), Granada, Spain
| | - Ana Alejandra Esteban-Burgos
- Department of Nursing, University of Jaén, Jaén, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
| | - Rafael Montoya-Juárez
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), Granada, Spain
- Department of Nursing, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Emilio Mota-Romero
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
- Department of Nursing, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- Dr. Salvador Caballero García Primary Care Centre, Andalusian Health Service, Government of Andalusia, Granada, Spain
| | - Concepción Capilla-Díaz
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
- Department of Nursing, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Daniel Puente-Fernández
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain
- Department of Nursing, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
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Costeira C, Dixe MA, Querido A, Rocha A, Vitorino J, Santos C, Laranjeira C. Death Unpreparedness Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Concept Analysis. Healthcare (Basel) 2024; 12:188. [PMID: 38255076 PMCID: PMC10815185 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare12020188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed changes upon the capacity of healthcare systems, with significant repercussions on healthcare provision, particularly at end-of-life. This study aims to analyze the concept map of death unpreparedness due to the COVID-19 pandemic, capturing the relationships among the attributes, antecedents, consequences, and empirical indicators. Walker and Avant's method was used to guide an analysis of this concept. A literature search was performed systematically, between May 2022 and August 2023, using the following electronic databases on the Elton Bryson Stephens Company (EBSCO) host platform: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (Medline), Psychological Information Database (PsycINFO), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Complete, Cochrane Library, and Nursing and Allied Health Collection. Thirty-four articles were retrieved. The unexpected and unpredictable impositions associated with inexperience and unskillfulness in dealing with COVID-19 configured challenges for healthcare professionals, family/caregivers, and even the dying person. Nine key attributes emerged in three main domains: (1) Individual: (a) disease-related conditions, (b) separation distress, and (c) scarcity of death and grief literacy; (2) Relational: (a) Dying alone, (b) poor communication, and (c) existential issues; and (3) Contextual: (a) disrupted collective mourning and grieving, (b) disrupted compassionate care and, (c) pandemic social stigma. This study contributed a full definition of death unpreparedness in a global pandemic scenario such as COVID-19. In this sense, feeling unprepared or unready for death brought new challenges to the bioecological resources of those affected. It is essential to embrace strategies capable of providing emotional and spiritual support in the dying process and to respect patient wishes. The lessons learned from COVID-19 should be applied to events with a comparable impact to minimize their consequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Costeira
- Centre for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechCare), Rua de Santo André-66-68, Campus 5, 13 Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2410-541 Leiria, Portugal; (M.A.D.); (A.Q.); (C.S.)
- School of Health Sciences, Polytechnic University of Leiria, Campus 2—Morro do Lena, Alto do Vieiro—Apart. 4137, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal;
- The Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing (UICISA:E), Nursing School of Coimbra (ESEnfC), 3004-011 Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Maria Anjos Dixe
- Centre for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechCare), Rua de Santo André-66-68, Campus 5, 13 Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2410-541 Leiria, Portugal; (M.A.D.); (A.Q.); (C.S.)
- School of Health Sciences, Polytechnic University of Leiria, Campus 2—Morro do Lena, Alto do Vieiro—Apart. 4137, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal;
| | - Ana Querido
- Centre for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechCare), Rua de Santo André-66-68, Campus 5, 13 Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2410-541 Leiria, Portugal; (M.A.D.); (A.Q.); (C.S.)
- School of Health Sciences, Polytechnic University of Leiria, Campus 2—Morro do Lena, Alto do Vieiro—Apart. 4137, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal;
- Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), NursID, University of Porto, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana Rocha
- Nursing School of Coimbra, Avenida Bissaya Barreto s/n, 3004-011 Coimbra, Portugal;
| | - Joel Vitorino
- School of Health Sciences, Polytechnic University of Leiria, Campus 2—Morro do Lena, Alto do Vieiro—Apart. 4137, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal;
- Palliative Care Unit, Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Coimbra, 3000-075 Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Cátia Santos
- Centre for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechCare), Rua de Santo André-66-68, Campus 5, 13 Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2410-541 Leiria, Portugal; (M.A.D.); (A.Q.); (C.S.)
- School of Health Sciences, Polytechnic University of Leiria, Campus 2—Morro do Lena, Alto do Vieiro—Apart. 4137, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal;
| | - Carlos Laranjeira
- Centre for Innovative Care and Health Technology (ciTechCare), Rua de Santo André-66-68, Campus 5, 13 Polytechnic University of Leiria, 2410-541 Leiria, Portugal; (M.A.D.); (A.Q.); (C.S.)
- School of Health Sciences, Polytechnic University of Leiria, Campus 2—Morro do Lena, Alto do Vieiro—Apart. 4137, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal;
- Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), University of Évora, 7000-801 Évora, Portugal
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Mota-Romero E, Campos-Calderon CP, Puente-Fernandez D, Hueso-Montoro C, Esteban-Burgos AA, Montoya-Juarez R. Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Perceived Quality of Palliative Care in Nursing Homes. J Clin Med 2022; 11:5906. [PMID: 36233772 PMCID: PMC9570656 DOI: 10.3390/jcm11195906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Revised: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The Nursing Homes End-of-life Programme (NUHELP) was developed in 2017 and is based on quality standards of palliative care, but it was not implemented due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVES To describe perceptions among staff at nursing homes and primary health care (PHC) centres regarding the relevance, feasibility, and degree of achievement of quality standards for palliative care in nursing homes and to determine the differences in these perceptions before and after the pandemic. METHODOLOGY Cross-sectional descriptive study. Professionals at eight nursing homes and related PHC centres who participated in NUHELP development assessed 42 palliative care standards at two time points (2018 and 2022). The Mann-Whitney U test was applied to analyse differences in the scores between these two times and between perceptions at nursing homes and at PHC centres. RESULTS The study population consisted of 58 professionals in 2018 and 50 in 2022. The standard regarding communication with persons affected by the death of a family member was considered less relevant (p = 0.05), and that concerning the culturally sensitive and dignified treatment of the body was less fully achieved (p = 0.03) in 2022 than in 2018. Social support (p = 0.04), sharing information among the care team (p = 0.04), patient participation (p = 0.04) and information about the treatment provided (p = 0.03) were all more poorly achieved in 2022 than in 2018. The perceptions of nursing home and PHC workers differed in several respects. CONCLUSIONS Professional intercommunication and social support should be reinforced, and residents should be more actively involved in decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilio Mota-Romero
- Dr. Salvador Caballero García Primary Care Centre, Andalusian Health Service, Government of Andalusia, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Doctoral Programme in Clinical Medicine and Public Health, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
- Department of Nursing, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, 18012 Granada, Spain
| | | | - Daniel Puente-Fernandez
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Department of Nursing, University of Jaen, 23071 Jaen, Spain
| | - Cesar Hueso-Montoro
- Department of Nursing, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Instituto Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
| | - Ana A. Esteban-Burgos
- Department of Nursing, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, 18012 Granada, Spain
| | - Rafael Montoya-Juarez
- Department of Nursing, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Instituto Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
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