Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, ILAS Building, National University of Ireland Galway, H91C7DK Galway, Ireland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 24;18(19):10060. doi: 10.3390/ijerph181910060.
COVID-19 profoundly affected Irish citizens. The effects have been especially pronounced for nurses in front-line, clinical and management roles. This article discusses the national and employer policy context relevant to nurses in Ireland. There have been staff and bed shortages in public hospitals since austerity policies were introduced following the global financial crisis. Government measures responding to the pandemic include initial 'cocooning' of older citizens, travel restrictions, changed working conditions and restricted availability of childcare. This article draws on interviews with 25 older nurses in 2021, sixteen women and nine men, aged 49 or over in Ireland. It explores older nurses' experiences of COVID-19 and asks what are the implications for their working conditions and retirement timing intentions. A gendered political economy of ageing approach and thematic analysis reveals that while some nurses responded positively to the pandemic, some experienced adverse health impacts, stress and exhaustion; some reported a fear of contracting COVID-19 and of infecting their families; several women nurses decided to retire earlier due to COVID-19. The implications of the findings for employer and government policy and for research are discussed.
新冠疫情对爱尔兰公民产生了深远的影响。对于处于一线、临床和管理岗位的护士来说，影响尤为明显。本文讨论了与爱尔兰护士相关的国家和雇主政策背景。自全球金融危机后实行紧缩政策以来，公立医院一直存在人员和床位短缺的问题。政府应对疫情的措施包括最初对老年公民的“隔离”、旅行限制、工作条件的改变和儿童保育服务的限制。本文借鉴了 2021 年对 25 名年龄较大的护士的采访，这些护士年龄在 49 岁及以上，其中 16 名女性，9 名男性，均来自爱尔兰。本文探讨了老年护士在新冠疫情期间的经历，并询问这对他们的工作条件和退休时间意向有何影响。老龄化的政治经济学性别分析方法揭示，尽管一些护士对疫情做出了积极反应，但也有一些人出现了健康受损、压力和疲惫等不利影响；一些人报告担心感染新冠病毒并传染给家人；由于新冠疫情，一些女性护士决定提前退休。讨论了研究结果对雇主和政府政策以及研究的意义。
