ABSTRACT
Between dream and distress - Setting up and running a cohort ward for COVID-19 Patients at an acute hospital - A case study Abstract. Background: In the context of the pandemic, hospitals must be able to care for COVID-19 patients within a very short timeframe. OBJECTIVE: Description of the setting up of a cohort ward for patients with COVID-19 on a surgical ward including the development of the nursing team. METHODS: The intrinsic retrospective case study describes the situation, identifies special phenomena in a reflective manner and links them to existing knowledge. Data were anecdotal, routine data were collected in the context of nursing practice development. RESULTS: Setting up the cohort ward in a Swiss hospital consisted of structural and technical planning, infection control measures, the establishment of interprofessional structures, and internal communication. During the four-week operation, 71 patients were treated. The use of practice development methodology initiated a cultural change. The reflection describes a field of tension between "dream and distress": As a dream, the lived experience of optimal care, with well-functioning processes, sufficient material, sufficient personnel and a very good interprofessional cooperation was evaluated. Distress in the form of high infection rates as well as psychological and physical stress did not occur. After the cohort ward was closed, there was a risk working back in normal operations based on existing economical and organizational conditions, with the knowledge that a different cooperation and organization is possible. CONCLUSIONS: Positive experiences from the "crisis mode" should be used to further develop essential operations during normal times.