Department of Sociology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA.
Institute for Patient Care, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
J Nurs Manag. 2021 Oct;29(7):1965-1973. doi: 10.1111/jonm.13353. Epub 2021 May 21.
To understand how nurses experience providing care for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in intensive care units.
As hospitals adjust staffing patterns to meet the demands of the pandemic, nurses have direct physical contact with ill patients, placing themselves and their families at physical and emotional risk.
From June to August 2020, semi-structured interviews were conducted. Sixteen nurses caring for COVID-19 patients during the first surge of the pandemic were selected via purposive sampling. Participants worked in ICUs of a quaternary 1,000-bed hospital in the Northeast United States. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, identifiers were removed, and data were coded thematically.
Our exploratory study identified four themes that describe the experiences of nurses providing care to patients in COVID-19 ICUs during the first surge: (a) challenges of working with new co-workers and teams, (b) challenges of maintaining existing working relationships, (c) role of nursing leadership in providing information and maintaining morale and (d) the importance of institutional-level acknowledgement of their work.
As the pandemic continues, hospitals should implement nursing staffing models that maintain and strengthen existing relationships to minimize exhaustion and burnout.
To better support nurses, hospital leaders need to account for their experiences caring for COVID-19 patients when making staffing decisions.
了解护士在重症监护病房为 COVID-19 住院患者提供护理的体验。
随着医院调整人员配备模式以满足大流行的需求，护士与患病患者直接进行身体接触，使自己和家人面临身体和情感风险。
2020 年 6 月至 8 月进行了半结构化访谈。通过目的性抽样选择了 16 名在大流行第一波期间照顾 COVID-19 患者的护士。参与者在位于美国东北部的一家四级 1000 床位医院的 ICU 工作。采访逐字记录，删除标识符，并对数据进行主题编码。
我们的探索性研究确定了四个主题，描述了在 COVID-19 大流行期间，护士在 ICU 为患者提供护理的经历：（a）与新同事和团队合作的挑战，（b）维持现有工作关系的挑战，（c）护理领导在提供信息和维持士气方面的作用，以及（d）机构层面认可其工作的重要性。
随着大流行的继续，医院应实施护理人员配备模式，以保持和加强现有关系，最大程度地减少疲劳和倦怠。
为了更好地支持护士，医院领导在做出人员配备决策时需要考虑到他们照顾 COVID-19 患者的经验。
