Response to and perception of nurses during the COVID-19: a qualitative assessment

Abstract

BackgroundThe COVID-19 outbreak was declared pandemic by the WHO on 11 March 2020. For that reason, we gathered insight from frontline healthcare professionals (nurses) regarding their perceptions, awareness, and familiarity of COVID-19. MethodsBeing a novel outbreak, we opted for a qualitative research design. With the help of a self-constructed and validated interview guide, face-to-face interviews were conducted with nurses to gain an in-depth knowledge. All interviews were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, and were then analyzed for thematic contents by the standard content analysis framework. ResultsThe saturation was reached at the 12th interview. Two more interviews were carried out to ensure the saturation achieved at the 12th interview. Thematic content analysis yielded four major themes. (1) Perceived knowledge, awareness, and severity of COVID-19, (2) perceived personal capability of handling and managing the COVID-19, (3) perceived organizational capability of handling and managing the COVID-19, and (4) barriers in handling and managing the COVID-19. ConclusionFindings of our study and reservations of our nurses’ highlight areas of concern and scheme of improvement in the effective management of the COVID-19. The respondents are faced with substantial difficulties and barriers in providing healthcare services to patients. We believe that the current study can help in planning policies and generating guidelines that can meet the healthcare needs of the society while managing the COVID-19 as well as for future pandemic outbreaks of the same nature.

Perception and factors affecting practice of preventive measures of coronavirus disease among nurses in tertiary health institutions in Anambra state, southeast Nigeria

“…They also believed that COVID-19 could be handled professionally based on their experience of previous pandemics. Therefore, they feel they are capable of handling the disease as discovered by Hashmi et al [ 10 ] in a similar study. The nurses in the study disagreed that eating well will not make one contact the disease; herbal products and hot liquids can prevent one from getting the virus owing to the high susceptibility nature of the disease;[ 9 ] hence; the need for adherence to the recommended universal preventive measures[ 3 5 ] to reduce the increasing death toll as a result of the disease.…”

“…[ 8 ] On the perception of nurses toward COVID-19,[ 9 ] perceived susceptibility to contracting the virus, displaying stigmatized behaviour (59.1%), and fear of contracting the virus from others (70.2%) was identified to influenced health care workers perception and practice of preventive measures to the disease. Hashmi et al [ 10 ] studied response to and perception of nurses during COVID-19. They discovered grouping of perception into (1) perceived knowledge, awareness, and seriousness of COVID-19, (2) perceived personal ability to handle and manage the COVID-19, (3) perceived organizational capability of handling and managing the COVID-19, and (4) barriers in handling and managing COVID-19.…”

Strategies in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic by nursing professionals

“…Studies that consider perceptions and experiences in the face of nursing work in the pandemic are important for shedding light on actions and innovations initiated in this field of professional activity, sometimes invisible. As it is a new condition, it is important to explore not only the clinical aspects of infection by the new coronavirus, but also the perception and knowledge of nursing professionals who work at risk in chaotic environments 7 and are required to implement safe care, even if they are sometimes immersed in unsafe working conditions. Thus, this article aims to describe strategies in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic adopted by nursing professionals.…”