Professional quality of life of nurses in critical care units: Influence of demographic characteristics

Abstract

Background. Professional quality of life, measured as compassion satisfaction, is a prerequisite for nurses working in intensive care units where patients rely on their care. Nurses who experience compassion satisfaction, or good professional quality of life, engage enthusiastically with all work activities and render quality patient care. In contrast, compassion fatigue eventually leads to disengagement from work activities and unsatisfactory patient outcomes. In this study, we described the demographic factors influencing professional quality of life of intensive care nurses working in public hospitals in Gauteng, South Africa (SA), during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective. To describe the demographic factors associated with professional quality of life of critical care nurses working in Gauteng, SA. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, we used total population sampling and invited all nurses who had worked for at least 1 year in one of the critical care units of three selected public hospitals in Gauteng to participate. One-hundred and fifty-four nurses responded and completed the ProQol-5 tool during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results. The nurses’ average age was 45 years, and 59.1% (n=91) had an additional qualification in critical care nursing. Most of the nurses had a diploma (51.3%;n=79), with a mean work experience of 12.56 years. The main demographic variables that influenced professional quality of life were years of work experience (p=0.047), nurses’ education with specific reference to a bachelor’s degree (p=0.006) and nurse-patient ratio (p<0.001). Conclusions. Nurses working in critical care units in public hospitals in Gauteng experienced low to moderate compassion satisfaction, moderate to high burnout and secondary traumatic stress, suggesting compassion fatigue. The high workload, which may have been associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, influenced nurses’ professional quality of life.

Burnout in Intensive Care Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review on Its Prevalence and Risk and Protective Factors

“…Regarding BOS prevalence among ICU nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, seven studies [37,38,[40][41][42][43][44] provided evidence of the presence of BOS symptoms in the ICU nurses participating in the studies, thus, supporting answers to the first research question of the present review. In the Belgian context [37], 68% out of the 1100 participating ICU nurses showed BOS symptoms.…”

“…In a Turkish sample composed of 116 intensive care nurses, Kurt Alkan et al [41] found a mean total score of burnout of 50.75 out of 70, as well as a significant positive correlation between nurses' burnout and fear of COVID-19. As shown by Ndlovu et al [42], the majority of the 225 involved South African nurses working in critical care units during the first wave of COVID-19 experienced moderate-to-high burnout, that is, 26.6% scored below 43 (low burnout), 46.1% scored between 43 and 56 (moderate burnout), and 27.3% scored higher than 56 (high burnout). Among 140 nurses working in Iranian ICUs, Omidi et al [43] found that 45% of them showed moderate-to-high emotional exhaustion, 43.6% showed moderateto-high depersonalization, and 5% reported low personal accomplishment.…”

“…Six studies [36,37,[41][42][43][44] deployed survey-based quantitative methods with psychometric measurements and three of them [37,43,44] administered Maslach and Jackson's [48] instrument to directly measure the three components of participants' BOS, such as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Three studies [45][46][47] have a qualitative, individual interview-based design.…”

“…Three other studies [38][39][40] are characterized by the use of mixed methods, that is, two of them [38,39] combined the administration of psychometric scales with written open-ended questions, which constitute a qualitative data collection and focus more specifically on ICU nurses' burnout and related issues, whereas another one [40] deployed focus groups. Three studies took place in the United States [39,45,47], two in Turkey [41,46], one in Sweden [36], one in Belgium [37], one in Canada [38], one in Israel [40], one in South Africa [42], one in Iran [43], and one in Italy [44]. The main characteristics of the reviewed studies are summarized in Table 3.…”

“…Additionally, Bruyneel et al [37] identified factors that were correlated with increased BOS risks, such as a higher number of patients to care for compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, high workload, lack of PPE, and unavailability of tests to assess whether they had been infected with the virus. Finally, Ndlovu et al [42] highlighted that the high workload, which may have been associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, negatively influenced nurses' professional quality of life, which can be a result of burnout itself.…”