Italian nurses' COVID-19 experiences from mass media interviews: a qualitative study.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is heavily hitting healthcare systems around the world, and nurses are battling in the front line. Previous studies have reported nurses' responses to catastrophic situations, but also interviews released by Italian nurses to the main mass media channels could bear important messages for policy makers and stakeholders. This study describes Italian front-line nurses' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic through television interviews. Methods: This is a descriptive qualitative study. Data were collected through purposive sampling from Italian front-line nurses' interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. Publicly available interviews between 7th and 29th March 2020 were collected from the websites of national and regional television stations. Thematic content analysis was used to describe, summarize, and classify data into macro themes. The study is compliant with Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research. Results: A total of 21 television interviews were collected from front-line clinical nurses, nursing managers, nursing trade union representatives and representatives of the Nursing Regulator. Thematic analysis yielded four macro-themes: psycho-social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health professionals; altered patient relationships; personal safety; recognition and promotion of the profession. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated some problems already present, such as the shortage of nurses, but has also turned the spotlight on the nursing profession. Highly involved and affected by the pandemic, nurses have become better known by the public and often also protagonists of public discussions. It is important that nurses' value as allies of the public emerges stronger from this dramatic situation.

[COVID 19: Nursing Leadership and innovations on the field to face the pandemic]. / COVID 19: Leadership infermieristica e innovazioni sul campo per affrontare la pandemia.

INTRODUCTION: In the Italian and European literature there are still few studies describing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organization of nursing care in hospitals, on the actions taken by nursing leaders to contain it, and on the outcomes of these interventions. AIM: To describe nursing leaders' experiences with reorganizing healthcare pathways, through management data and personal accounts. METHODS: A retrospective quali-quantitative observational study was conducted at the Mauriziano Hospital in Turin, with 484 beds and over 1,700 workers. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistical indices and integrated with qualitative data collected through semi-structured telephone interviews. The analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data provided an objective and experiential representation of the implemented interventions. RESULTS: We described the impact of interventions introduced by the nursing leadership during the pandemic on hospital services. In particular, the reorganization of the emergency department and of the prevention and psychological support services for the hospital's health workers. In addition, specific initiatives to support the discharge of COVID-19 positive patients, and to support and manage contacts with family members both during the hospitalization of their loved ones and following death are described. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study contributes to the discussion on some crucial issues: the increasingly clear relationship between adequate staffing and safety of patients and professionals, the importance of a good working environment and a solid leadership, the importance of continuing education for professionals and adequate skill mixes; all highlighted by the pandemic.

Lessons from Italian front-line nurses' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative descriptive study.

AIM: To explore nursing management issues within COVID-19 narratives of Italian front-line nurses. BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected health systems and professionals worldwide. Italian nurses have key messages for nursing leaders following their acute experiences in the pandemic. METHOD: A descriptive qualitative study with thematic analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-three testimonies from clinical nurses were analysed. Six macrothemes were identified as follows: organisational and logistic change; leadership models adopted to manage the emergency; changes in nursing approaches; personal protective equipment issues; physical and psychological impact on nurses; and team value/spirit. CONCLUSIONS: Our testimonies highlighted the huge impact of COVID-19 on the Italian nursing workforce, especially in terms of the high risks associated with caring for COVID-19 patients, exacerbated by the shortage of appropriate personal protective equipment. Nurses had to care for their colleagues and live separately from their families to avoid infecting them, revealing nurses' resilience and the important role of effective and sensitive management. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Nurse managers must be prepared for the impact of pandemics on staff and need to ensure availability and replacement of quality personal protective equipment, rehearse strategies for communicating with patients while wearing personal protective equipment and establish protocols for communicating with relatives.