The influence of experiences of involvement in the COVID‐19 rescue task on the professional identity among Chinese nurses: A qualitative study

Abstract

In December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province in China, and then, it expanded quickly, resulting in unprecedented remarkable threats to the public health, not only to China, but also worldwide. To efficiently stop the rapid spread of the epidemic, Chinese government adopted multiple response policies including traffic control, home isolation, modifying the regular wards into isolation wads and building new hospitals for infected people. Meanwhile, medical workers echoed actively calls for mobilization from National Health Commission of China to support the epidemic control. As a result, patients were successfully treated and mortality decreased gradually and the COVID-19 epidemic ultimately was under the control in China. The nurses constituted the major front-line rescue workforce in combating the COVID-19 epidemic. It is estimated that totally

South Korean Nurses’ Experiences with Patient Care at a COVID-19-Designated Hospital: Growth after the Frontline Battle against an Infectious Disease Pandemic

“…As the time spent in the isolation unit doubled due to staffing shortages, the participants experienced extreme stress and fatigue. The number of patients kept rapidly increasing, and the shortage of nurses caused tremendous fatigue, comparable to the situation described in a study from China in which some staff were reported to be sleeping while standing due to extreme fatigue [19,33].…”

“…Meanwhile, the nurses experienced stigma because they provided care to COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 spread rapidly to many more people than previous infectious diseases, leading to the stigmatization of COVID-19 patients and healthcare professionals who treat them [33]. The stigma described by the participants was similar to that in a study reporting that nurses caring for MERS patients were forbidden from riding in elevators, and their children's kindergarten attendance was denied [25,35].…”

“…In addition, the nurses experienced challenges from wearing PPE, with increased discomfort as the duration of time they wore PPE increased. This difficulty is commonly reported in qualitative studies of infectious disease patient care [18][19][20]25,33]. Chinese nurses who worked over eight hours while wearing PPE and adult diapers while providing COVID-19 patient care expressed that they felt like collapsing [19].…”

“…When establishing policies in preparation for infectious disease outbreaks, it is necessary to establish compensation guidelines for healthcare professionals who work closely with infected patients. In a study where the hospital paid for anti-epidemic health insurance [19], and the government and hospital provided financial compensation and issued awards for nurses' contributions [33], the nurses reported that the value of their work was recognized and expressed that they were "being supported" by their organization. As the hospital that the participants are affiliated with is highly likely to be designated again as an infectious disease hospital during another novel infectious disease outbreak, establishing compensation-related guidelines must be developed to lift the morale of nurses.…”

“…The seventh component was the Forces That Keep Me Going. Previous studies have reported that nurses were grateful to those who supported them [18,19], moved by people referring to them online as heroes and sending relief supplies [19,33], and gained strength from letters written and sent by children [25].…”