A Qualitative Study on the Inner Experience of First-Line Nurses in the Clinical Fight against COVID-19

Abstract

Background: With the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in the world, medical staff have become the main force to fight the epidemic. In the process of clinically fighting the epidemic, many nurses experience enormous physical and psychological strain. All parties are under tremendous pressure due to the shortage of medical resources and the large numbers of severely ill patients requiring assistance. Herein, we explored the inner experience of first-line clinical nursing staff during the COVID-19 epidemic.Methods: In March 2020, qualitative research methods were used to interview 18 clinical first-line nurses. Semi-structured interviews were used, and data analysis consisted of content analysis of the interviews. Results: A total of four themes were identified: (1) work-level experience: (a) difficulty in the implementation of nursing operations, (b) a sense of accomplishment in innovative nursing work; (2) experience at the physical level: (a) tiredness, (b) injury/discomfort; (3) psychological experience: (a) enormous psychological pressure, (b) post-traumatic psychological obstacles, (c) sense of mission/achievement; (4) traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) nursing experience: (a) frustration during treatment, (b) joy after treatment. Conclusions: Anti-epidemic clinical first-line nurses were able to maintain their high-level nursing ability under large amounts of psychological pressure and a high level of physical discomfort, which laid the foundation for victory over the epidemic.Trial registration: None

I Am a Nurse, Not a Martyr: Qualitative Investigation of Nurses’ Experiences During Onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic

“…Our findings are consistent with results observed in other studies, such as Zhang et al, 2020, which found a strong sense of duty and resilience among nurses on COVID-19 units and which also underscored the importance of comradery among nurses, even equating the pandemic to fighting in a war. Meanwhile, as with our work, Lai et al, 2020 found that nurses felt that only other nurses could understand what they were going through.…”

“…Given the drastic potential of the disease, health care professionals who fear they may infect others tend to experience depression, insomnia, anxiety, frustration, anger, and trauma (Barello et al, 2020;Lai et al, 2020;Pappa et al, 2020;Salari et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020). Mental and emotional anguish stems from healthcare workers coping with the deaths of colleagues (Maunder et al, 2006), as well as workers' sense of losing control, feeling vulnerable, logging excessive hours, and witnessing the breakdown of social support systems (Chua et al, 2004;Lee et al, 2007;Maunder et al, 2006), all the while managing family responsibilities and other stresses of life issues (Chua et al, 2004;Lai et al, 2020;Maunder et al, 2006).…”

“…While COVID-19 has presented profound physical-and mental-health implications for nurses (Mo et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020), we know surprisingly little about how nurses' professional experiences managing such crises. Specifically, we lack a sufficient understanding of nurses' perceptions of organizational processes and the significance of collegiality among frontline workers.…”

COVID-19 among nursing staff: Settings and regional differences

“…We conducted a systematic literature review of these papers and found only a few studies that specifically addressed nursing staff and COVID-19 (Bird, Badhwar, Fallon, Kwok, & Tang, 2020; Guery et al, 2020; Halcomb et al; Millar, 2020; Mo et al, 2020; Ning et al, 2020; Yifan et al, 2020; H.-j. Zhang et al, 2020; Y.-P. Zhang et al, 2020). Some of these papers described the consequences of COVID-19 in relation to nursing staff (Mo et al, 2020; Ning et al, 2020; H.-j.…”

“…Zhang et al, 2020; Y.-P. Zhang et al, 2020). Some of these papers described the consequences of COVID-19 in relation to nursing staff (Mo et al, 2020; Ning et al, 2020; H.-j. Zhang et al, 2020; Y.-P. Zhang et al, 2020).…”