The Experiences of Nurses in Care Provision to COVID-19 Patients: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: Nurses are key fighters in the forefront of care provision to COVID-19 patients. Due to the diversity of nurses' experiences in different countries because of variable nursing resources, health care systems, and cultural contexts, the present study aimed to divulge a deep understanding of the essence of health system problems based on nurses' experiences of care provision to COVID-19 patients in Iran. Methods: The present study was conducted based on the conventional content analysis method and Graneheim & Lundman approach. The participants included the nurses working in the COVID-19 wards and were recruited by purposeful sampling and based on inclusion criteria. The data were collected by conducting semi-structured, one-to-one interviews, and taking field notes, until reaching data saturation. Results: In-depth interviews with 12 nurses. represented four main categories and six subcategories. Sudden exposure to an unknown threat (nurses' feelings and concerns and nurses' reactions), being involved in an unequal war (a vicious virus and weary nurses), stressful working conditions, and efforts to confine the threat (seeking for new and adequate information and gathering all forces) were among the emerged data. Conclusion: The nurses' experiences showed that despite passing a while since the coronavirus pandemic, there are still individual and professional concerns that all root in organizational and governmental factors.

The Prevalence of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Among Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Umbrella Review and Meta-Analysis.

Introduction: Frontline health care workers (HCWs) have had an increased risk of developing health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to physical illness, they have experienced mental health challenges, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of PTSD among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic via an umbrella review and meta-analysis. Methods: This study was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline to perform a systematic literature search using various medical databases (Web of science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, ProQuest, Science Direct, Embase, and Google scholar). The search included all articles published through the first of January 2020 the end of March 2021. The systematic review and meta-analysis studies that reported the prevalence of PTSD among health care workers were included in the study, and studies that reported the prevalence of PTSD in normal people or other epidemics were excluded. The random effects model was used to perform a meta-analysis, and the I 2 index was used to evaluate heterogeneity among studies. Publication bias was assessed using the Egger test. Data was analyzed using STATA (version 14) software. Results: The initial literature search yielded 145 studies. After excluding duplicates and assessing the quality of the studies, 7 studies were selected for meta-analysis. The results showed that the overall prevalence of PTSD among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic was 13.52% (95% CI: 9.06-17.98, I 2 = 65.5%, p = 0.008). Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of PTSD among frontline HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to invest in efforts to screen HCWs for mental health disorders such as PTSD and provide them with mental health support.

Triage Room Principles and Recommendations for 2019 Novel Coronavirus.

Triage becomes necessary when resources and time are not sufficient to provide the best possible services to all patients. This condition is more common in situations with a large number of casualties, like infectious epidemics. What is apparent is that, in the case of a widespread outbreak of infectious disease, hospitals are on the front lines of infected patient admission and treatment. Since the training of health-care workers is one of the most important pillars of preventive measures in controlling this pandemic, this study was conducted with the aim of expressing the principles of triage of infectious disease epidemic with a COVID-19 approach.

The prevalence of insomnia among health care workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic: An umbrella review of meta-analyses.

BACKGROUND: Health care workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic experience numerous psychological problems, including stress and anxiety. These entities can affect their sleep quality and predispose them to insomnia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of insomnia among HCWs during the COVID-19 crisis via an umbrella review. METHODS: The PRISMA guideline was used to conduct this review. By searching relevant keywords in databases of Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, studies that reported the prevalence of insomnia among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020 to the end of January 2021) and had been published in English were identified and evaluated. The random effects model was used for meta-analysis, and the I2 index was used to assess heterogeneity. The Egger test was used to determine publication bias. Based on the results of the primary search, 96 studies were identified, and ultimately 10 eligible studies entered the meta-analysis phase. RESULTS: The results of the umbrella review of meta-analyses showed that the prevalence of insomnia among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic was 36.36% (95% CI: 33.36-39.36, I2 = 59.6%, p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this umbrella review of meta-analyses showed a relatively high prevalence of insomnia among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic. As insomnia can be associated with other psychological problems, policymakers and health managers should regularly screen HCWs for psychological disorders as well as a possible tendency for suicide. Furthermore, by treating insomnia, one can reduce the incidence of these psychological disorders.