Beyond Burnout and Resilience: The Disillusionment Phase of COVID-19.

In caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses are experiencing a crisis of emotional highs and lows that will have lasting implications for their professional and personal well-being. As a result, much attention has been focused on nurse burnout, but the range of nurses' experiences is more nuanced, complicated, and profound. With the recognition that the nursing workforce was already experiencing burnout before the pandemic, this article explores how individuals respond to disasters and the detrimental effects of the repeated surges of critically ill patients, which have led nurses to experience an extended period of disillusionment that includes secondary traumatic stress, cumulative grief, and moral distress. This article describes the range of psychological responses to the COVID-19 pandemic so that nurse leaders can better identify resources and interventions to support nurses.

A Nurse Leader’s Guide to Reducing Burnout:: Strategies to Improve Well-Being

The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened our understanding of the complex nature of burnout and secondary trauma and solidified the knowledge that simplistic solutions will not effectively create nurse well-being. Without applying the latest scientific evidence about the nature of burnout and the secondary trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts may be misguided or ineffective. In this article, we outline how to implement meaningful system change using examples of current evidence-based practices to improve nurse well-being.

The Importance of Understanding COVID-19: The Role of Knowledge in Promoting Adherence to Protective Behaviors.

Background: Past research suggests that knowledge supports- but strong illness expectations thwart- adoption of protective behaviors (e.g., handwashing). Strong illness expectations may place COVID-19 essential workers at risk. It is unclear, however, whether knowledge can moderate the negative effects of pessimistic illness expectations on protective behaviors. We test COVID-19 knowledge as a moderator of the effects of (1) pessimistic illness expectations and (2) essential worker status on adherence to protective behaviors. Methods: Participants (n = 350) completed measures of knowledge, illness expectations, and protective behaviors. We used chi-square tests to examine associations between variables and logistic regressions to test the moderation models predicting adherence (low, high) while controlling for demographics. Results: Knowledge, illness expectations, and adherence were significantly associated with each other (p < 0.05). Essential workers had stronger illness expectations and lower knowledge than did non-essential workers (p < 0.001). Logistic regressions showed a non-significant Worker Status × Knowledge interaction (p = 0.59) but a significant Knowledge × Illness Expectations interaction (p < 0.05) indicating that those with strong illness expectations and low knowledge were disproportionately at risk of failing to adhere to recommended behaviors. Conclusions: Knowledge promotes protective behaviors by buffering the negative effects of pessimistic illness expectations. Essential workers are more likely to have low levels of knowledge with strong illness expectations, suggesting that educational policies may be warranted.