The importance of management in promoting hospital staff's mental well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic—A survey

Abstract

Aim To describe hospital staff's experiences of management actions to promote their mental well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Mental well‐being was examined on the basis of four entities: level of anxiety, support and encouragement from the manager, and the opportunity to discuss concerns about COVID‐19 with the manager. Background The workload of COVID‐19 affects the mental well‐being of staff. However, there is limited data on managers' actions to promote their mental well‐being during the pandemic. Methods A cross‐sectional study was used to collect survey data ( n = 1995) among staff working in two specialized medical care hospitals. To gain deeper understanding related issues, the survey included open questions, which were answered by 178 participants. Results The results indicate that those staff who felt they had received support, encouragement, and the opportunity to discuss of COVID‐19 worries with a manager experienced less anxiety. Conclusions The study provides an insight into managers' actions to promote staff's mental well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Implications for Nursing Management The manager's actions have a significant effect on the anxiety levels of staff. During the pandemic, the well‐being of staff is a priority that should be visible to both hospital administrators and policymakers.

Nurses’ perceptions of the performance of nurse managers and senior hospital management during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This, in turn, led to the clinical nurses blaming the former two groups for the chaos and ineffective management, as also found by White [ 15 ]. Thus, our results are in agreement with previous studies [ 37 , 38 ], which state that hospital managers either lacked the knowledge on how to manage the crisis or the experience to handle the situation. This reinforces the idea that senior managers need better training in disaster management, and more organizational support [ 16 , 37 , 39 ].…”

“…Despite this, the nurses we interviewed also appreciated the effort and work of the majority of middle managers and nursing supervisors, highlighting that they were available, approachable, closely involved, and empathetic to the challenges of providing care in times of pandemic. Some studies have highlighted how the work of nurse managers may have led to different experiences of the pandemic, depending on their personal involvement and leadership skills [ 38 , 40 , 41 ]. As noted previously, many nurse managers were conscious of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare professionals in their charge and supported them emotionally, having a significant effect on reducing the anxiety and improving the mental well-being of the professionals under their care.…”

“…As noted previously, many nurse managers were conscious of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare professionals in their charge and supported them emotionally, having a significant effect on reducing the anxiety and improving the mental well-being of the professionals under their care. These factors also contribute to the increased confidence of healthcare professionals in their managers [ 14 – 16 , 31 , 38 , 40 , 41 ].…”

“…Another important finding is the impression held by clinical nurses that physicians received more support and protection from senior hospital management and the healthcare administration, which other studies have characterized as a lack of respect for nurses [ 31 , 38 , 44 ].…”

Sex differences in risk factors for metabolic syndrome in middle-aged and senior hospital employees: a population-based cohort study

“…Compared to the other studies, there was also a similar distribution of sex ratios in the hospital staff. The male vs. female ratio of hospital employees is 24.7% vs. 75.3% in Italy [ 53 ], 11.1% vs. 88.9% in China [ 54 ], 22.2% vs. 77.8% in USA [ 55 ], 13% vs. 87% in Finland [ 56 ], 24% vs. 76% in France [ 57 ], and 32.5% vs. 67.5% in Saudi Arabia [58]. Although there were fewer male than female participants in our study, male participants had a significantly elevated risk of MetS.…”