When Nurses Become Patients. Validation of the Content of the Diagnostic Label Professional Traumatic Grief

Subjective rather than objective patient death experiences link with physicians' and nurses' professional quality of life

BACKGROUND

Patient deaths are impactful events for professional caregivers in both their professional and personal lives. The present study aims to explore how both subjective and objective patient death experiences are related to various aspects of professional quality of life (ProQOL) among physicians and nurses.

METHODS

Secondary analyses of cross-sectional data were conducted, and 306 Chinese physicians and nurses whose most recent patient death experience was more than one month prior were included. Objective and subjective patient death experiences were measured based on the number of past patient deaths and the Accumulated Global Changes (AGC) subscale of the Professional Bereavement Scale, respectively. ProQOL was measured with the Professional Quality of Life Scale. Regressions were run following bivariate analyses.

RESULTS

The number of past patient deaths was not significantly linked with any of the three ProQOL scores in either the bivariate analyses or regressions. Meanwhile, higher AGC scores were associated with higher burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction scores after participants' age, occupation (physician/nurse), department, work experience, job commitment, and sense of mission were controlled.

CONCLUSION

Subjective rather than objective past patient death experiences link significantly with all three aspects of physicians' and nurses' ProQOL. The more professional caregivers think that they have been changed by all past patient deaths in their career, the more they experience burnout and secondary traumatic stress, but, the more satisfied they are with their job and the helping itself.

Professional grief among nurses in Spanish public health centers after caring for COVID-19 patients

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of the present study is to investigate the professional grief suffered by nurses in various medical units, after coping with the COVID-19 pandemic for the last 18 months.

BACKGROUND

Addressing and acknowledging the reality of professional grief is of fundamental importance to nurses' mental health, as this condition has both professional and personal consequences.

DESIGN

A qualitative, content analysis approach was taken.

METHODS

Based on 25 interviews with nursing professionals working in different health centers units were performed. The following sampling schemes were used: first, convenience sampling, then nominated sampling, and finally theoretical sampling.

RESULTS

From our analysis of the data obtained, three main themes were identified: the impact on nurses of COVID-19 outcomes; the symptoms of professional grief; and cognitive reactions. These core elements interacted with 12 subtopics, including symptoms of grief and the cognitive impact produced.

CONCLUSIONS

A large proportion of the nurses consulted in this study have suffered and suffered professional grief and report many related symptoms. In response to the present pandemic and any future occurrence, the question of professional grief needs to be addressed.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

To help them cope better with this type of situation, nurses should receive appropriate training. Moreover, healthcare institutions should be made aware of the problem and be encouraged to offer assistance to address the impact produced on nurses by the deaths of their patients.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

This study shows the impact of professional grief on nurses in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses are affected personally by the deaths of patients and by alterations to their working conditions. In many cases, this grief remains unresolved and its various symptoms persist.

Bereavement Needs Assessment in Nurses: Elaboration and Content Validation of a Professional Traumatic Grief Scale

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a series of biopsychosocial repercussions among nursing professionals. The impossibility of anticipating the events, the numerous deaths, the excessive workload, the lack of personal health and the necessary means of protection made it difficult to regulate the impact and the elaboration of grief to the point of becoming, on many occasions, a traumatic grief whose physical and psychological manifestations are becoming more and more evident. The main objective of this research was to develop a scale for a group of symptoms based on professional traumatic grief. The development consisted of two phases: (I) instrument design through a literature review and focus groups of bereavement experts and healthcare professionals who experience the grief process in their work; and (II) validation of the content of the instrument. A total of 25 final items were established as suitable for inclusion in the instrument. It is expected that the experiences and results obtained through the development and validation of a scale of specific symptomatology of professional traumatic grief in health professionals will allow the assessment and detection of symptomatology in order to develop programs and strategies for early intervention and prevention.