China's Successful Recruitment of Healthcare Professionals to the Worst-Hit City: A Lesson Learned

Cognitive changes in professional value and career development amid the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study of nurses' experiences

AIM

To explore cognitions in nurses' professional value and career development amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyse influencing factors.

DESIGN

A qualitative descriptive study design was employed.

METHODS

Thirty practising nurses from three general hospitals in Chengdu, China, were purposively recruited. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted. The content analysis was used for data analysis.

RESULTS

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were obvious cognitive changes in nurses' professional value, including improvement in the cognition of professional value, awareness of the broadening of the field of acting professional value, and realization of increasingly high requirements in careers. Approval and gratitude of patients, social recognition and attention, self-awareness of nurses were main influencing factors. For cognitive changes in career development, nurses became more motivated to develop their careers, had a clearer understanding of career development environment, and acquired a clearer understanding of what was needed to advance careers. Hospital support, social respect, family support, and team atmosphere were key influencing factors.

CONCLUSIONS

The contributions made by nurses in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted positive changes in their cognition of professional value and career development. To promote nurses' positive understanding and approach to career development, measures should be taken by hospitals. Further, social respect, family support and team cooperation can enhance nurses' enthusiasm for career development.

Trajectory analysis of the work and life experience of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal qualitative study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a global health threat and has had a profoundly negative impact on the work and lives of healthcare workers. However, few people know how their experiences have evolved over time.

AIMS

To describe healthcare workers' experiences during clinical responses to COVID-19 and how they changed over time.

DESIGN

A longitudinal qualitative study.

METHODS

We undertook a series of four semi-structured qualitative interviews of 14 healthcare workers called as 1st responders to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were recruited through purposive snowball sampling. Interviews were undertaken between May 2020 and May 2022 and trajectory approach was used to reveal individual experiences over time. This paper follows the COREQ (Consolidated criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research) guidance.

RESULTS

Data analysis yielded the following four themes: (1) Changes in emotions; (2) Changes in organization and management of care; (3) Changes in knowledge and capabilities; and (4) Changes in outlook on life and career.

CONCLUSION

Healthcare workers have become stronger in the pandemic and have demonstrated a high degree of professional loyalty and responsibility. However, there is a need to focus on the issue of jealousy and create a harmonious and safe work environment to reduce harm to healthcare workers. Additionally, human resource management strategies must support well-being of healthcare workers and maximize the efficiency of human resource utilization to enable them to respond to current and future needs and emergencies.

Nurses' mental health and coping strategies throughout COVID-19 outbreak: A nationwide qualitative study

This qualitative exploratory study explored nurses' mental health and coping strategies working with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients in Brunei Darussalam. Eleven focus group discussions were conducted between October 2020 and January 2021, involving 75 participants. Three themes emerged: 'COVID-19 roller-coaster transitional journey' explained the different psychological responses of the journey of the nurses from merely hearing about COVID-19 from far to the invasion of the virus and community outbreak in the country; 'Mind my mind and heart' share experiences of the nurses in terms of their mental health and emotional responses; and 'the psychosocial system' described the coping mechanisms of the nurses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurses' mental health and coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced how they provided care and performed other tasks, which should not be taken for granted. Nurses employed psychosocial coping methods at the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and support from family, friends, the public, and the governmental level. This research is fundamental as a basis for other countries to design psychological interventions during this yet unsettled COVID-19 pandemic.

Moral Distress among Frontline Physicians and Nurses in the Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

During the COVID-19 health emergency, healthcare professionals faced several ethical demanding job stressors, becoming at particular risk of moral distress. To date, only a few scales have been developed to evaluate moral distress among frontline professionals working in contact with COVID-19 patients. Moreover, although many healthcare professionals from various disciplines were converted to COVID-19 patient care, no study has yet analyzed whether the resulting change in duties might represent a risk factor for moral distress. Thus, this study aimed to investigate how and when the change in duties during the emergency would be related to healthcare professionals' psycho-physical malaise. To this aim, a first Italian adaptation of the Stress of Conscience Questionnaire (SCQ) was provided. In total, 272 Italian healthcare professionals participated in this cross-sectional study. Healthcare professionals who had to perform tasks outside their usual clinical duties were more likely to experience moral distress and then psycho-physical malaise. This was particularly likely for those who were extremely concerned about becoming infected with the virus. The results also indicated that the Italian adaptation of the SCQ had a one-factor solution composed of six items. This study provides the first Italian adaptation of SCQ and practical suggestions on how supporting professionals' well-being during emergencies.