Faculty of Health Sciences, Mardin Artuklu University, Kampus yerleskesi, Artuklu/Mardin, Mardin, 47000, Turkey.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2024 Aug 12;24(1):921. doi: 10.1186/s12913-024-11362-9.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the access and delivery of healthcare services, posing unprecedented challenges to healthcare staff worldwide. Frontline healthcare staff faced unique stressors and challenges that impact their well-being and patient care. This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences and perspectives of frontline ED healthcare staff on emergency care services during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing valuable insights into the challenges, adaptations, and lessons learned in delivering emergency care.
This study utilized a qualitative approach. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 ED healthcare staff from three different hospitals located in Turkey between 15/03/2022 and 30/04/2022. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants. The duration of the interviews ranged from 28 to 37 min. Data saturation was reached as no new information was gathered. The data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method. NVivo software was used to manage the data analysis process. Member check was carried out to ensure that the generated themes conformed to the participants' views.
15 sub-themes under three themes emerged: (1) the impact of COVID-19 on emergency care services, including sub-themes of "introducing a COVID-19 unit in the ED", "changes in the routine functioning of EDs", "changes in the number of ED visits", "quality of care", "resources", and "increased workload"; (2) the psychological effects of COVID-19 on ED healthcare staff, including sub-themes of "staying away from family", "fear", "society's perspective on healthcare professionals", "morale-staff burnout", "psychological and emotional effects", and "unable to receive sufficient support"; and (3) the difficulties faced by ED healthcare staff, including sub-themes of "difficult working conditions", "community-based effects difficulties", and "COVID-19 is an unknown situation".
Staff burnout threatens the quality of patient care and staff retention, and therefore this should be addressed by ED directors and leaders. This study could inform appropriate stakeholders regarding lessons learned from COVID-19 to better manage future pandemics. Learning from such lived experiences and developing appropriate interventions to minimize the difficulties faced during COVID-19 would allow better management of future pandemics. This study calls for a reform to address the challenges faced by healthcare staff, improve the overall response to public health crises, and enhance the resilience of healthcare systems for future crises.
COVID-19 大流行对医疗保健服务的获取和提供产生了重大影响，给全球医疗保健工作者带来了前所未有的挑战。一线医疗保健工作者面临着独特的压力源和挑战，这些压力源和挑战影响着他们的健康和患者护理。本定性研究旨在探讨 COVID-19 大流行期间一线急诊医疗保健工作人员对急诊护理服务的体验和观点，为提供紧急护理方面的挑战、适应和经验教训提供有价值的见解。
本研究采用定性方法。2022 年 3 月 15 日至 4 月 30 日期间，在土耳其的三家医院，对 30 名急诊医疗保健工作人员进行了深度半结构化访谈。采用便利抽样法招募参与者。访谈持续时间从 28 分钟到 37 分钟不等。当没有收集到新信息时，达到了数据饱和。使用主题分析方法对数据进行分析。使用 NVivo 软件管理数据分析过程。进行了成员检查，以确保生成的主题符合参与者的观点。
三个主题下出现了 15 个次主题：（1）COVID-19 对急诊护理服务的影响，包括“在急诊部设立 COVID-19 病房”、“急诊部常规运作的变化”、“急诊就诊人数的变化”、“护理质量”、“资源”和“工作量增加”等子主题；（2）COVID-19 对急诊医疗保健工作者的心理影响，包括“远离家人”、“恐惧”、“社会对医疗保健专业人员的看法”、“士气-员工倦怠”、“心理和情绪影响”和“无法获得足够支持”等子主题；（3）急诊医疗保健工作人员面临的困难，包括“艰苦的工作条件”、“社区影响困难”和“COVID-19 是一种未知情况”等子主题。
员工倦怠威胁着患者护理质量和员工保留率，因此急诊部主任和领导应解决这一问题。本研究可以为相关利益攸关方提供从 COVID-19 中吸取的经验教训，以便更好地管理未来的大流行。从这些生活经历中学习并制定适当的干预措施，以最大限度地减少 COVID-19 期间面临的困难，将有助于更好地管理未来的大流行。本研究呼吁进行改革，以解决医疗保健工作人员面临的挑战，改善对公共卫生危机的整体应对，增强医疗保健系统应对未来危机的弹性。
