Perspectives of nursing directors on emergency nurse deployment during the pandemic of COVID‐19: A nationwide cross‐sectional survey in mainland China

Abstract

Aims The aim of this study is to investigate the situation and perceptions of nursing directors about emergency nursing staff deployment in designated hospitals during the pandemic of COVID‐19 in mainland China. Background The pandemic of COVID‐19 has significantly depleted health care resources, leading to increased burden of nursing care and staffing and exacerbating the crisis in health care facilities. Currently, how to effectively plan and schedule nursing staffing in the pandemic still remains unknown. Methods From 14 July 2020 to 8 September 2020, 62 nursing directors of designated hospitals in mainland China were invited to participate in a cross‐sectional online survey for their perceptions of nursing human‐resource allocation during the pandemic of COVID‐19. Results A total of 55 valid questionnaires were collected, showing that 96.36% of the hospitals had emergency nursing organizations and management systems during the pandemic, 96.36% had well‐established scheduling principles for nursing human resources and 54.55% of hospitals had human‐resource scheduling platforms. All the hospitals had trained emergency nursing staff in infection control (55, 100%), work process (51, 92.73%) and emergency skills (50, 90.91%). Most of the participants were satisfied with the nursing staffing deployments at their institutions (52, 94.55%). However, more than two thirds of them believed that their human‐resource deployment plans need further improvements (39, 70.91%). Conclusions Most of the designated hospitals investigated had established emergency nursing organizations, and management systems, and related regulations for the epidemic. However, the contents mentioned above still need to be further standardized. Implications for nursing management The surge of patients in the epidemic was considerable challenge for the emergency capacity of hospitals. In the future, we should pay more attention to the following aspects: building emergency nursing staffing platforms, increasing emergency human‐resource reserves, establishing reliable communication channels for emergency response teams, improving the rules and regulations of emergency human‐resource management, offering more training and drills for emergency‐related knowledge and skills and giving more focus on bio‐psycho‐social wellbeing of nurses.

Protective factors of ethical conflict during a pandemic—Quali‐Ethics‐COVID‐19 research part 2: An international qualitative study

“…In periods not marked by crisis, an organisation needs to address the weaknesses of the health care group by ensuring adequate staffing and by strengthening teams (Barello, Falcó‐Pegueroles, et al, 2020). Such a focus helps promote good communication with colleagues and build familiarity, identified as protective factors by our interviewees and the extant literature: A clear and consistent communication environment ensures healthcare professionals can work in a supportive environment sharing their experience and expertise (Gálvez‐Herrero et al, 2022; Gray & Sanders, 2020; Ling‐Xiao et al, 2022; Miljeteig et al, 2021). In this regard, several authors recognise the value of debriefing as an effective strategy for sharing and processing challenging emotions, for helping a team rebuild morale and for the early detection of burnout or mental health distress (Vincent & Creteur, 2020).…”

“…In periods not marked by crisis, an organisation needs to address the weaknesses of the health care group by ensuring adequate staffing and by strengthening teams (Barello, Falcó-Pegueroles, et al, 2020). Such a focus helps promote good communication with Xiao et al, 2022;Miljeteig et al, 2021). In this regard, several authors recognise the value of debriefing as an effective strategy for sharing and processing challenging emotions, for helping a team rebuild morale and for the early detection of burnout or mental health distress (Vincent & Creteur, 2020).…”

“…colleagues and build familiarity, identified as protective factors by our interviewees and the extant literature: A clear and consistent communication environment ensures healthcare professionals can work in a supportive environment sharing their experience and expertise(Gálvez-Herrero et al, 2022;Gray & Sanders, 2020;Ling- …”

Nursing workforce allocation in the intensive care units of COVID‐19‐designated hospitals: A nationwide cross‐sectional survey in China

“…To meet the need for staffing, nurses from non‐ICU areas were transferred to the ICU setting, and the patient care quality as well as future resilience for treating COVID‐19 patients depend heavily on the competence and stamina of nurses (Bergman et al, 2021). However, in fact, almost all non‐ICU nurses are not systematically trained (He et al, 2022), and just‐in‐time training for non‐ICU nurses was recommended in ICUs during this pandemic (Vranas et al, 2021). Consequently, for nurse managers, it is the key to train nurses in emergency and critical care in advance (He et al, 2022; Wells et al, 2021) to deal with public health emergencies with ease.…”

“…However, in fact, almost all non‐ICU nurses are not systematically trained (He et al, 2022), and just‐in‐time training for non‐ICU nurses was recommended in ICUs during this pandemic (Vranas et al, 2021). Consequently, for nurse managers, it is the key to train nurses in emergency and critical care in advance (He et al, 2022; Wells et al, 2021) to deal with public health emergencies with ease.…”