The effects of an emergency nurse-led stress-reduction project during the first 120 days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 frontline nurses' stress-reduction programme by the cooperation of manager with the nurses is not-well developed. AIM: This study aimed to examine the effect of an emergency nurse-led stress-reduction project on reducing stress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The action research was conducted using online and person-to-person group brainstorming strategies. The online survey was used to evaluate emergency nurses' stress levels, causes of stress and needs at the 50th, 80th and 110th days of the pandemic from March to May 2020. RESULTS: The numbers of nurses participating in three-time survey were 160, 166 and 160, respectively. There was a decrease in the nurses' work-related stress after implementing the improvement strategies. Stress from personal protective equipment (PPE), information about infection control and family's worry about being infected reduced across 2 months. Needs regarding PPE, COVID-19 information and a forum for sharing experiences of COVID-19 care decreased whereas needs of allowing more days off increased. CONCLUSIONS: The stress-reduction project targeting at nurses' views of their needs can reduce their stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The online and person-to-person group brainstorming building a good partnership between nurses and managers can be an effective nursing management.

Delayed respiratory syncytial virus outbreak in 2020 in Taiwan was correlated with two novel RSV-A genotype ON1 variants.

BACKGROUND: Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading pathogen of acute respiratory tract disease among infants and young children. Compared with previous seasons, RSV outbreaks in Taiwan during the 2020-2021 season were delayed because of COVID-19 mitigation measures. We conducted this study to determine the association of viral factors with clinical characteristics of preschool children with RSV infection. METHODS: We performed a molecular epidemiology analysis of RSV among inpatient preschool children in Taiwan. In 80 nasopharyngeal samples positive for RSV, we sequenced and analyzed viral genotypes according to patient data. Patients' clinical data were obtained from medical files, and their clinical profiles were compared with those of RSV cases recorded during the 2014-2017 seasons. RESULTS: Phylogenetic analysis revealed that among the RSV-positive samples, all RSV strains identified during the 2020-2021 season belonged to the ON1 genotype. Most of the Taiwan ON1 strains were categorized into two well-supported clusters with distinct G protein amino acid substitution patterns that had never been demonstrated previously. Furthermore, the proportion of cases among children aged >24 months increased (P < 0.001). Compared with patients infected during the 2014-2017 seasons, patients infected during the 2020-2021 season were hospitalized for shorter days from hospital admission to dereference (P = 0.004) and had a greater need for oxygen supplements (P = 0.021) and systemic steroid therapy (P = 0.026). CONCLUSION: The delayed 2020-2021 RSV outbreak in Taiwan was caused by two novel RSV ON1.1 variants. How the change in RSV epidemiology affects future RSV outbreaks warrants exploration.