Original Research: Nurses' Experiences of Caring for Patients and Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Communication Challenges

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the perceptions and experiences of nurses caring for patients and families under the COVID-19 pandemic's socially restrictive practices and policies. Background: The COVID-19 global pandemic has affected the delivery of health care to patients and their families, with many aspects altered because of the need for social distancing, social isolation, and visitation restriction policies. These policies have created communication challenges for interdisciplinary health care teams, patients, and families. As frontline caregivers, nurses have felt strongly the impact of these challenges. Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted among 17 RNs who were caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and were recruited via social media posts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Watson's theory of human caring served as the conceptual framework for the study. Results: Several themes emerged regarding nurses' experiences of communication with patients and families. These include communication challenges and barriers, prioritization, integration of group communication, nurse self-reflection, and acceptance of gratitude. Conclusions: The study findings underscore the importance of nurses' communication with patients and families under the pandemic's restricted conditions. They demonstrate the value of nurses' ability to innovate in fostering all parties' participation in the plan of care, and highlight the comfort nurses provide to patients who are isolated from loved ones. Strategies that fostered communication were identified, as were areas for further research.

An uncertain time: Clinical nurses' first impressions during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…In these situations, the participants did all they could to use electronic devices (e.g., tablets and cell phones) to enable families to connect and communicate as their loved ones were dying. The nurses found this process to be emotionally draining and inconsistent with the standards of care, findings also reported in other studies (Danielis et al, 2021;De Leo et al, 2021;Pariseault et al, 2022).…”

Nursing’s Contributions to Stroke Care During COVID-19

“…Pariseault, Copel and McKay investigated the perceptions and experiences of hospital-based registered nurses caring for patients and their families during the recent pandemic. 1 Several prominent themes were communication challenges and barriers, prioritization of time and resources, and incorporation of timely and regularly scheduled virtual group communication (eg, rounds) between the patient/family/and healthcare team. Nurses working in stroke centers and other settings have come up with creative solutions to help minimize the use of scarce personal protective gear (eg, 3D printers), maintaining open lines of communication with staff and leadership, providing remote family poststroke education, and continuing effective staff collaboration (eg, Adapted Stroke Unit Model) while following COVID-19 guidelines.…”

Nurse–patient interaction during the Covid‐19 pandemic: Creating and maintaining an interactive space for care

“…Communication challenges have also been identified (Diaz-Agea et al, 2022;Ferrari et al, 2021;Moretti et al, 2021;Pariseault et al, 2022). Nurses reported that PPE and physical distancing made it more difficult to create relational interactions and communication with patients.…”

“…For example, relational care, such as talking and listening or non‐verbal communication, was found to be among the fundamental nursing care tasks most often missed for patients with Covid‐19 (Sugg et al, 2021). Communication challenges have also been identified (Diaz‐Agea et al, 2022; Ferrari et al, 2021; Moretti et al, 2021; Pariseault et al, 2022). Nurses reported that PPE and physical distancing made it more difficult to create relational interactions and communication with patients.…”