ABSTRACT
Internationally, nurses and midwives played a major role in the care of patients with COVID-19. More qualitative studies now exist, but still little is known about the psychosocial impact. The aim of this study was to assess the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nurses and midwives in Denmark. A cross-sectional survey completed by nurses and midwives employed at a university hospital in Denmark between May and June 2020 was conducted. Psychological distress was assessed using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The study was conducted in accordance with the STROBE guidelines. A total of 1416 (37.9%) nurses and midwives completed the survey, 61% (n = 843) felt at risk of getting COVID-19, and 27% (n = 377) felt more stressed than usual. Overall, nurses and midwives did not experience psychological distress at the beginning of the pandemic. However, exposure to COVID-19 was associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. © The Author(s) 2022.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Health services implemented a range of initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic to support employee wellbeing and assist employees to manage the professional and personal challenges they experienced. However, it is not known if such initiatives were acceptable to employees or met their needs. AIMS: To evaluate the wellbeing and support initiatives implemented at an Australian health service during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of employees (both users and non-users) and key stakeholders. METHODS: A mixed-methods design (survey, interviews and data audit) to investigate employees' and key stakeholders' perceptions, experiences and use of the wellbeing and support initiatives implemented at a large tertiary metropolitan health service in Melbourne, Australia. RESULTS: Ten employees participated in an interview and 907 completed a survey. The initiatives were well used and appreciated by staff. There was no significant difference in the proportion of clinical staff who had used the initiatives compared to non-clinical staff (44% versus 39%; P=0.223). Survey respondents reported the initiatives improved their mental health (n = 223, 8%), ability to cope with COVID-19 related stress and anxiety (n = 206, 79%), do their work (n = 200, 77%) and relationships with colleagues (n = 174, 67%). Staff would like many of the initiatives (with some modifications) to continue after the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest a high level of staff satisfaction with the implemented wellbeing and support initiatives, and confirm the need for, and importance of, developing and implementing initiatives to support health service staff during outbreaks of infectious diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Background. The COVID-19 pandemic required hospitals to care for influxes of patients in cohort locations during critical shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE). Safety zones can be used to protect healthcare workers caring for patients with infectious pathogens. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our hospital developed a Warm Zone model (WZM) to streamline the care of patients with COVID. We established specific areas in our COVID cohort units where staff were permitted to bridge between rooms without doffing gowns, but still doffing gloves and performing hand hygiene between patients. We recognized that a WZM could inadvertently increase risk of nosocomial transmission of pathogens if gowns acted as fomites. For this reason, patients with known infectious pathogens were excluded from the WZM. To measure for unintended harmful consequences of the WZM, our Infection Prevention (IP) department performed surveillance for hospital onset (HO) Clostridioides difficile (CDI), Carbapenemresistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and Methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus (MRSA) bloodstream infections on units that implemented the WZM. Methods. Two intensive care units and 3 wards where COVID positive patients were cohorted were included in surveillance. The timeframe for this analysis was 7/1/2020 - 3/31/2021. An electronic surveillance system was used to measure HO infections. The National Healthcare Surveillance Network (NHSN) LabID definitions were used when determining HO CDI and MRSA bloodstream infections (BSI). Results. During the study period, there were no HO CRE, 1 HO CDI, and 2 HO MRSA BSI in cohort units. There was no evidence to suggest that the HO CDI or HO MRSA BSI were associated with use of a WZM. During this time period, there were 14 cases of community onset (CO) CDI, 2 cases of CO MRSA BSI, and one CO CRE. Conclusion. During use of a WZM in COVID cohort units, IP did not identify significant increase in HO CDI, CRE, or MRSA BSI compared to non-cohort units. We were limited in our ability to measure acquisition of pathogens because active surveillance screening for colonization was not performed. However, we were able to safely employ a WZM to streamline patient care in COVID cohort areas without evidence of causing nosocomial infections via patient-to-patient transmission.