The Role, Education, and Experience of Health Care Assistants in End-of-Life Care in Long-Term Care: A Scoping Review

Cronin, Una; McCarthy, Joan; Cornally, Nicola

doi:10.3928/00989134-20191022-01

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…They wanted to contribute to the development of sustainable working routines for the pandemic. This is in line with findings from former studies reporting that NAs feel undervalued, powerless, marginalised, and excluded from involvement in care decisions (Cronin et al, 2020;Güney et al, 2021).…”

Section: Of 11supporting

confidence: 92%

How much are we worth? Experiences of nursing assistants in Swedish nursing homes during the first wave of COVID‐19

Bergqvist

Bastholm‐Rahmner

Gustafsson

et al. 2022

Int J Older People Nursing

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Background NHs have been severely exposed during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Little is known about how staff who provide practical daily care of older residents experienced work during the pandemic. The aim of this study was to understand how nursing assistants (NAs) experienced their work at nursing homes (NHs) for older people during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Methods We conducted a qualitative study of focus group discussions with in total 20 participants from four NHs in Stockholm, Sweden. Discussions were held in November 2020. Transcripts were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results We identified three major themes: 1) We felt abandoned, scared and disrespected, 2) We made sure we made it through, and 3) We can do good work with appropriate resources. NAs felt disregarded as they were often left alone without adequate support from managers, registered nurses and the municipalities. NAs felt distressed and guilty and developed their own strategies to cope and manage their work. Conclusion and Implication for Practice During the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic NAs felt abandoned and burdened due to lack of leadership. Organizational improvements are required to protect the wellbeing of NAs and to ensure sustainability of patient safety. NAs are crucial in the care for vulnerable older people and their experiences should constitute a keystone for development of future policy and practice in NHs.

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Section: Of 11supporting

confidence: 92%

How much are we worth? Experiences of nursing assistants in Swedish nursing homes during the first wave of COVID‐19

Bergqvist

Bastholm‐Rahmner

Gustafsson

et al. 2022

Int J Older People Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At the same time, a Swedish study showed that ANs and NAs felt that no-one was listening to their experiences and views, even when they wanted to contribute to the development routines for the pandemic (18). The fact that ANs and NAs felt undervalued, marginalised and excluded from involvement in care decisions was also highlighted in research prior to the pandemic (23,24).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Being forced into an unsustainable and unethical working situation while caring for older people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

Lövenmark

Hammar

2023

Preprint

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Bakground: Worldwide, older people were more severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic than others. In Sweden, those living in residential care facilities had the highest mortality rate, followed by those receiving home care services. The Swedish and international literature on the working environment for auxiliary nurses and nursing aides during the pandemic shows an increase in stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress syndromes. Care organisations were badly prepared to prevent the virus from spreading and to protect the staff from stress. In order to be better prepared for possible future pandemics, the health and well-being of the staff, the care of older people and the experiences of the staff both during and after a pandemic are important aspects to take into account. Therefore, this study aims to describe the residential care and home care service staff’s physical and psychosocial working experiences during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden. Methodology: The data was collected through four focus groups interviews with 19 participants and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The result shows that the staff were forced into an unsustainable and unethical working situation by being portrayed as scapegoats by the older people’s relatives and the news media. In addition, they did not feel valued by people in general or by their own managers. The worsening working conditions that the pandemic contributed to resulted in a high degree of stress and risk of burnout, with staff members both wanting to and actually leaving their employment. Not only did the staff become innocent scapegoats in terms of the spread of the virus, after the pandemic they felt forgotten again and left to cope in an even worse situation than before. Conclusions: According to the participants, the pandemic brought them, their working conditions and this part of the caring system to a tipping point, which the government and the media should no longer ignore. The pandemic revealed even more unsustainable and unethical working conditions for the staff in HCR and RCS than before the pandemic, including the vulnerability of the older people in their care.

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“…At the same time, a Swedish study showed that ANs and CAs felt that no-one was listening to their experiences and views, even when they wanted to contribute to the development routines for the pandemic [ 20 ]. The fact that ANs and CAs felt undervalued, marginalised and excluded from involvement in care decisions was also highlighted in research prior to the pandemic [ 26 , 27 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Being used for the greater good while fighting on the frontline: care staff’s experiences of working with older people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

Lövenmark,

Hammar

2024

BMC Geriatr

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Bakground Worldwide, older people were more severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic than others. In Sweden, those living in residential care facilities had the highest mortality rate, followed by those receiving home care services. The Swedish and international literature on the working environment for assistant nurses and care aides during the pandemic shows an increase in stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress syndromes. Care organisations were badly prepared to prevent the virus from spreading and to protect the staff from stress. In order to be better prepared for possible future pandemics, the health and well-being of the staff, the care of older people and the experiences of the staff both during and after a pandemic are important aspects to take into account. Therefore, this study aims to describe the experiences of assistant nurses and care aides working in the care of older people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, their working conditions and the impact all this had on their lives. Methodology The study has a qualitative, descriptive design. The data was collected in four focus group interviews with 21 participants and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results The results revealed the theme, Being used for the greater good while fighting on the frontline, which was then divided into three categories: portrayed as a risk for older people, not being valued and being burnt out. The worsening working conditions that the pandemic contributed to resulted in a high degree of stress and risk of burnout, with staff members both wanting to and actually leaving their employment. After the pandemic they felt forgotten again and left to cope in an even worse situation than before. Conclusions The pandemic had a major effect on assistant nurses and care aides in terms of their working environment and their private lives. To be better prepared for future pandemics or disasters, organisations with responsibility for the care of older people will need to ensure that their staff have the necessary competencies and that there is adequate staffing in place. This also means that adequate government funding and multiple interventions will be needed.

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The Role, Education, and Experience of Health Care Assistants in End-of-Life Care in Long-Term Care: A Scoping Review

Cited by 6 publications

References 43 publications

How much are we worth? Experiences of nursing assistants in Swedish nursing homes during the first wave of COVID‐19

How much are we worth? Experiences of nursing assistants in Swedish nursing homes during the first wave of COVID‐19

Being forced into an unsustainable and unethical working situation while caring for older people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

Being used for the greater good while fighting on the frontline: care staff’s experiences of working with older people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden

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