Aim
To explore nursing management issues within COVID‐19 narratives of Italian front‐line nurses.
Background
The COVID‐19 pandemic has dramatically affected health systems and professionals worldwide. Italian nurses have key messages for nursing leaders following their acute experiences in the pandemic.
Method
A descriptive qualitative study with thematic analysis.
Results
Twenty‐three testimonies from clinical nurses were analysed. Six macrothemes were identified as follows: organisational and logistic change; leadership models adopted to manage the emergency; changes in nursing approaches; personal protective equipment issues; physical and psychological impact on nurses; and team value/spirit.
Conclusions
Our testimonies highlighted the huge impact of COVID‐19 on the Italian nursing workforce, especially in terms of the high risks associated with caring for COVID‐19 patients, exacerbated by the shortage of appropriate personal protective equipment. Nurses had to care for their colleagues and live separately from their families to avoid infecting them, revealing nurses' resilience and the important role of effective and sensitive management.
Implications for Nursing Management
Nurse managers must be prepared for the impact of pandemics on staff and need to ensure availability and replacement of quality personal protective equipment, rehearse strategies for communicating with patients while wearing personal protective equipment and establish protocols for communicating with relatives.
Aim
To expand knowledge about the predictive factors of nurses' intention to leave their job and consequently to turnover.
Background
Nurse turnover is costly and negatively influences quality of care. Understanding the association between intention to leave and modifiable features of hospital organisation may inform strategies to reduce turnover.
Methods
A cross‐sectional survey of 3,667 medical and surgical nurses was conducted in Italy. Measures included intention to leave; work environment; burnout; job satisfaction; and missed care using the RN4CAST instruments. Descriptive, logistic regression analysis was used.
Results
Due to job dissatisfaction, 35.5% of the nurses intended to leave their current job, and of these, 33.1%, the nursing profession. Push factors included the following: understaffing, emotional exhaustion, poor patient safety, performing non‐nursing care and being male. Pull factors included the following: positive perception of quality and safety of care, and performing core nursing activities.
Conclusion
The present study expands knowledge about the predictive factors of nurses' intention to leave their job and consequently to turnover, which is one of today's major issues contributing to the shortage of nurses.
Implications for Nursing Management
Nurses' intention to leave their job is the consequence of a poor work environment, characterized by factors such as understaffing and performance of non‐nursing activities.
Dysphagia, dysgeusia, oral mucositis and xerostomia negatively affected the patients' quality of life throughout the period of treatment. The patients' nutritional symptom experiences do not occur in isolation. Therefore, acknowledging the patients' eating difficulties and challenges can guarantee appropriate management and support to best manage symptoms in a timely manner.
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