Voices of Nurses during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Call to Action

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on the well-being of nurses and has exacerbated long-standing issues of stress and burnout. Expecting or hoping that nurses will recover quickly or bounce back from the stress and deep trauma of the pandemic is not realistic. Each nurse has a story, and while these stories may have similar themes, they are all different. It is important to reflect on our stories, identify the myriad of emotions we are experiencing, and find ways to work through our feelings. Ignoring, denying, or suppressing feelings does not serve us well in the long run. Stifling negative emotions does not make them go away. A Call to Action is needed to address the impact of the pandemic, clinician burnout, and systemic racism on health-care organizations and educational institutions. Strategies are identified that will support personal and organizational well-being.

Italian nurses’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic through social media: A longitudinal mixed methods study of Internet posts

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first mixed methods study analysing the narratives of nurses posted on social media over the COVID-19 waves by considering all their ‘voices’ as unique stories. 40 At the overall level, we observed a reduction in the number of posts and in the number of words used from the first wave 17 to the second/third wave, and this may be interpreted two-fold, as a sort of adaptation and resignation to the situation and as a sign of fatigue, discomfort and helplessness. 41 However, similarities in correlations across waves emerged between the amount of cases and deaths reported at the national level and the number/length of narratives posted, suggesting the need for nurses to use posts to communicate their experiences as the severity of the pandemic advances.…”