School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Front Public Health. 2022 Sep 29;10:965664. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.965664. eCollection 2022.
Organizational responses that support healthcare workers (HCWs) and mitigate health risks are necessary to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to understand how HCWs and key personnel working in healthcare settings in Melbourne, Australia perceived their employing organizations' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this qualitative study, conducted May-July 2021 as part of the longitudinal Coronavirus in Victorian Healthcare and Aged Care Workers (COVIC-HA) study, we purposively sampled and interviewed HCWs and key personnel from healthcare organizations across hospital, ambulance, aged care and primary care (general practice) settings. We also examined HCWs' free-text responses to a question about organizational resources and/or supports from the COVIC-HA Study's baseline survey. We thematically analyzed data using an iterative process.
We analyzed data from interviews with 28 HCWs and 21 key personnel and free-text responses from 365 HCWs, yielding three major themes: , and . HCWs valued organizational efforts to engage openly and honesty with staff, and proactive responses such as strategies to enhance workplace safety (e.g., personal protective equipment spotters). Suggestions for improvement identified in the themes included streamlined information processes, greater involvement of HCWs in decision-making, increased investment in staff wellbeing initiatives and sustainable approaches to strengthen the healthcare workforce.
This study provides in-depth insights into the challenges and successes of organizational responses across four healthcare settings in the uncertain environment of a pandemic. Future efforts to mitigate the impact of acute stressors on HCWs should include a strong focus on bidirectional communication, effective and realistic strategies to strengthen and sustain the healthcare workforce, and greater investment in flexible and meaningful psychological support and wellbeing initiatives for HCWs.
支持医护人员并减轻健康风险的组织应对措施对于抵消 COVID-19 大流行的影响是必要的。我们旨在了解澳大利亚墨尔本的医护人员和在医疗保健环境中工作的关键人员如何看待他们所在组织对 COVID-19 大流行的应对。
在这项纵向冠状病毒在维多利亚州医疗保健和老年护理工作者（COVIC-HA）研究中的定性研究中，我们于 2021 年 5 月至 7 月进行，采用目的抽样法，从医院、救护车、老年护理和初级保健（全科医生）环境中的医疗保健组织中对医护人员和关键人员进行了访谈。我们还检查了 COVIC-HA 研究基线调查中有关组织资源和/或支持的 HCW 自由文本回答。我们使用迭代过程对数据进行了主题分析。
我们分析了来自 28 名医护人员和 21 名关键人员的访谈数据，以及 365 名医护人员的自由文本回复，得出了三个主要主题：沟通与透明度、安全与保护，以及资源与支持。医护人员重视组织与员工坦诚和公开地沟通，并采取积极主动的应对措施，例如增强工作场所安全的策略（例如，个人防护设备监测员）。主题中确定的改进建议包括简化信息流程、增加医护人员在决策中的参与度、增加对员工福利计划的投资以及采用可持续的方法来加强医疗保健劳动力。
本研究深入了解了在大流行不确定环境中，四个医疗保健环境中组织应对措施的挑战和成功。未来减轻急性应激源对医护人员影响的努力应包括高度重视双向沟通、有效和现实的策略来加强和维持医疗保健劳动力，以及增加对医护人员灵活而有意义的心理支持和福利计划的投资。
