Background Under the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses are the mainstay in the fight against the pandemic. Purpose To evaluate potential impact of the pandemic on nurses’ professional identity. Method Self-report questionnaires were distributed online. Data collected were compared with available norms. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to calculate the OR of frontline vs. nonfrontline nurses. Findings The mean of the total score of the scale was 121.12 out of 150. Both the total score and scores on the five dimensions were significantly higher than norms. Frontline nurses had a significantly higher professional identity than non-frontline nurses (total score: odds ratio [OR], 1.19; professional identity evaluation: OR, 1.27; professional social support: OR, 1.18; professional social proficiency: OR, 1.33; and dealing with professional frustration: OR, 1.19). The most frequently mentioned tags were Hope, Frontline, Protection, Outbreak, Work, Situation . Discussion COVID-19 outbreak was associated with an enhancement in the professional identity of nurses.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an opportunity to increase investment in the nursing practice environment, which has greatly impacted patients, nurses, and organizations. However, there were limited studies concerning the changes in the practice environment since the COVID-19 pandemic and the way to improve it from nurses’ perspectives. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 460 nurses from seven hospitals in Sichuan, China. Both the quantitative and qualitative data were collected from an online questionnaire. The quantitative data were collected using the Chinese version of the Practice Environment Scale-Nursing Work Index and compared with available norms in 2010. The qualitative data were collected through an open question following the scale and analyzed by content analysis. Results The mean of the score of the practice environment scale was 3.44 (SD = 0.56) out of 4.00. The score of the total scale and the dimensions were significantly higher than the norms, apart from nurse-physician relations and nurse participation in hospital affairs. The qualitative findings revealed positive changes in nursing foundations for quality of care, nurse participation in hospital affairs and nurse-physician relations, and poor staffing and resource adequacy. The improvement in the working model and ward environment is the primary concern of nurses. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic brought some positive changes in the nursing practice environment, but more efforts are needed to solve those nagging and important problems, such as staff shortages and low participation. Nursing managers and hospital leaders were encouraged to listen to nurses’ concerns and value this suitable opportunity for changing and improving to achieve better health services and coping ability to deal with emergency events going forward. Improving the ward environment and taking a professional model instead of sticking to the tedious process might be worthwhile.

Background Emergency and intensive care unit nurses are the main workforce fighting against COVID-19. Their professional identity may affect whether they can actively participate and be competent in care tasks during the pandemic. Objective To examine the level of and changes in professional identity of Chinese emergency and intensive care unit nurses as the COVID-19 pandemic builds. Methods A cross-sectional survey composed of the Professional Identity Scale for Nurses plus 2 open-ended questions was administered to Chinese emergency and intensive care unit nurses through an online questionnaire. Results Emergency and intensive care unit nurses had a medium level of professional identity. Participants’ total and item mean scores in 5 professional identity dimensions were higher than the professional identity norm established by Liu (P < .001). The greatest mean item score difference was in the dimension of professional identity evaluation (3.57 vs 2.88, P < .001). When asked about their feelings witnessing the COVID-19 situation and their feelings about participating in frontline work, 68.9% and 83.9%, respectively, reported positive changes in their professional identity. Conclusions The professional identity of emergency and intensive care unit nurses greatly improved during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding may be attributed to more public attention and recognition of nurses’ value, nurses’ professional fulfillment, and nurses’ feelings of being supported, motivated, respected, and valued.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a highly prevalent condition that contributes to a substantial proportion of disease burden globally and continues to rise in rank among leading causes of death (Bikbov et al., 2020). In 2017, almost 700 million cases of all-stage CKD were recorded, with a global prevalence of 9.1% (Bikbov et al., 2020). The prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), the final stage of CKD, was also found to be increasing annually, especially in developing countries (Ghimire et al., 2021).ESRD is a distressing disease characterized with irreversible impairments in kidney function and required long-term dialysis therapy. As the most commonly used and important renal replacement therapy (Robinson et al., 2016), maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) is vital for patients with ESRD to filter out excess hydrate and metabolic waste. However, due to the pressure of long-term therapy and