A qualitative study of the vocational and psychological perceptions and issues of transdisciplinary nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

Background: Due to its high infectivity and concealment, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak that occurred in Wuhan attracted global attention. A special nursing group of transdisciplinary nurses (TNs) who had not worked in respiratory medicine, infection departments, or emergency and intensive medicine but who accounted for a large proportion of all nurses also drew our attention. Few studies have examined this special group of TNs. Therefore, this study collected the experiences and views of TNs at the forefront of the COVID-19 outbreak to investigate their potential problems. Results: Twenty-five TNs and 19 nurses with experience in infectious diseases (non-TNs) were enrolled in the study. Compared with non-TNs, TNs showed higher levels of perceived stress and relatively less perceived social support. For TNs, the ambiguous roles, transition of operating mode, unfamiliar work content, and reversal of their daily schedule were the most common vocational problems. Additionally, most TNs had psychological problems such as anxiety, pain and insomnia. The incomprehension of parents, concern for family members and long-term isolation were the most common causes of psychological stress. Conclusion: This survey is the first to focus on the group of TNs at the forefront of the COVID-19 outbreak and to investigate their experiences, vocational issues and psychological stresses qualitatively and quantificationally. We found that TNs had more perceived stress and less perceived social support than non-TNs. The vocational and psychological issues of TNs should be highlighted. These findings identify important issues and offer insights into the underlying issues to help TNs ultimately win the battle against novel coronavirus epidemics. Methods: Semi-structured and face-to-face individual interviews and quantitative assessments were conducted. The Braun Clarke Thematic Analysis method and the strategy outlined by Miles and Huberman were used in the data analysis process of the qualitative study. The perceived stress scale and perceived social support scale were utilized to quantificationally evaluate the perceived stress level and the amount of perceived social support. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted to assess the vocational and psychological perceptions and issues.

Mental health of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and evidence-based frameworks for mitigation: A rapid review

“…Nurses in COVID-19 wards had higher self-reported rates of stress, exhaustion, and depression and lower job fulfillment than nurses in non-COVID wards, 27 nurses with more work-hours and more night shifts experienced more fatigue, 28 and nurses without intensive care unit (ICU) experience deployed to COVID-19 ICUs experienced more stress. 29 Physical and mental fatigue have been associated with anxiety, depression and stress in nurses as well. 28 One study in Turkey surveyed nursing students before and after the outbreak and found that over half of the nursing students reported anxiety, and anxiety was associated with negative perspectives on the nursing profession as well as unwillingness to practice the profession of nursing in the future.…”

Drivers and mediators of healthcare workers’ anxiety in one of the most affected hospitals by COVID-19: a qualitative analysis

“…Therefore they experienced more perceived stress and less social support when treating patients with COVID-19. 28 In addition, our research population came from a particular hospital in Wuhan where the COVID-19 epidemic first broke out, and more medical workers died there due to infection compared with all other hospitals. Chinese and even the world media focused on workers’ status in this hospital during the epidemic.…”

Immediate Psychosocial Impact on Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Compared with other groups, HWs have had to work longer hours under intense pressure. Increasing confirmed and suspected cases, heavy workloads, shortages of personal protective equipment, information overload, demand for specific drugs, and a lack of public support are all possible contributors to the psychological burdens faced by HWs (Fan et al, 2020;Galehdar et al, 2020;Liu Q. et al, 2020). For example, the Chinese government sent more than 42,000 HWs to treat patients in the affected areas of Hubei Province (Yao and Xu, 2020).…”