The nurse's work in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: Reflect on the work experienced by the nurse in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in a public hospital of the State of Rio Grande do Norte. METHODS: Reflective essay based in the professional experience in a public reference hospital for the care of patients affected by COVID-19 in the State of Rio Grande do Norte. Results were organized in two empirical categories, which emphasize potentialities and barriers in the nurse's work in the face of the COVID-19, presented by means of Ishikawa diagram. RESULTS: Two categories emerged from the experiences: Nursing leadership in organizing health services to face COVID-19; and the performance of nursing care management in the COVID-19 pandemic. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: It is necessary to value the nurse's work in all its attributes, as well as strengthen the interdisciplinary work processes, which collaborate to overcome the crisis caused by the pandemic.

Risk assessment and management among frontline nurses in the context of the COVID-19 virus in the northern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the post-contact risk of nurses who provide care for patients diagnosed with COVID-19. METHODS: This investigation employed a quantitative-descriptive design. The study sample was comprised of the frontline nurses in the COVID-19 center hospitals in the northern part of Saudi Arabia. Snowball sampling was used, resulting in 80 frontline nurses. A survey using a self-administered questionnaire in a Google form was employed to collect the data, which was collected from May 20 through June 25, 2020. RESULTS: Some of the study participants were reported to have a history of both staying in the same household with each other (35%) and of traveling with a confirmed COVID-19 patient (20%). These participants were considered as community exposed to COVID-19. There were 8.8% who were classified as high risk due to failure in removing and replacing personal protective equipment (PPE); 6.3% were at high risk for not performing hand hygiene before and after touching COVID-19 patients, and 5% did not follow the recommended guidelines in performing hand hygiene after touching the patients' surroundings. In addition, 3.8% of the participants had an accident related to biological material, such as with splashes of biological fluid (in the eyes). These nurses were classified as high risk for COVID-19 virus infection, CONCLUSION: This study identifies practices that need improvement in combatting this virus. Since policies and guidelines may not always be optimal in all settings, a tailor-fitted guideline is appropriate. Nurse leaders, for example, need to establish an infection control system that provides real-time monitoring and facilitates immediate correction for nurses. Doing so will provide the nurses with a continuous awareness of predisposing themselves to acquiring the virus.

Considering care in context.

Sam Foster, Chief Nurse, Oxford University Hospitals, reflects on the need for regulators to take into account the care context, particularly with some trusts under more pressure than others from a second wave of COVID-19.

Impact of COVID-19 on nursing time in intensive care units in Belgium.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on nursing practice in intensive care unit and consequently, on workload. OBJECTIVE: To assess the nurse-patient ratio required by COVID-19 patients and to identify the factors that influence nursing in this context. DESIGN: This study was a retrospective observational study that evaluated the ratio using the Nursing Activities Score (NAS). SETTING: Three Belgian French-speaking hospitals, including five ICUs. Patients included COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The study included 95 COVID-19 patients and 1604 non-COVID-19 patients (control group) resulting in 905 and 5453 NAS measures, respectively. The NAS was significantly higher among the COVID-19 patients than in the control group (p = <0.0001). In the COVID-19 group, these higher scores were also observed per shift and uniformly across the three hospitals. COVID-19 patients required more time in the activities of monitoring and titration (χ2 = 457.60, p = <0.0001), mobilisation (χ2 = 161.21, p = <0.0001), and hygiene (χ2 = 557.77, p = <0.0001). Factors influencing nursing time measured by NAS in the COVID-19 patients were age <65 years old (p = 0.23), the use of continuous venovenous hemofiltration (p = 0.002), a high APACHE II score (p = 0.006) and patient death (p = 0.002). A COVID-19 diagnosis was independently associated with an increase in nursing time (OR = 4.8, 95% CI:3.6-6.4). CONCLUSIONS: Patients hospitalised in the ICU due to COVID-19 require significantly more nursing time and need an average ratio of almost 1:1.

[How hospitals, Intensive Care Units and nursing care of critically ill patients have changed during the Covid-19 outbreak? Results from an exploratory research in some European countries]. / Come sono cambiati gli ospedali, le Terapie Intensive, l'assistenza al malato critico in tempi di Covid-19? Risultati di una indagine esplorativa in alcuni contesti europei.

. How hospitals, Intensive Care Units and nursing care of critically ill patients have changed during the COVID-19 outbreak? Results from an exploratory research in some European countries. INTRODUCTION: During the Covid-19 outbreak, the health care institutions and the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) have been reorganized with significant consequences at both organizational and clinical levels. AIMS: To investigate (1) the organizational changes of hospitals and ICUs in dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak; (2) the characteristics of the nursing care; (3) the most important challenges perceived by nurses in caring for Covid-19 patients. METHODS: Cross-sectional online survey, available from May 11th and July 10th, 2020. Participants were nurses caring for Covid-19 patients in European ICUs. RESULTS: A total of 62 nurses responded to the survey; average age 37.5 years, 31 (60.8%) were female, mostly from Italy, France and United Kingdom. All hospitals underwent many changes, such as the opening of new dedicated wards and the restriction of family visits. The number of ICU beds doubled during the pandemic (p<0.01), as well as the number of nurses per shift from 10.2 (SD 7.3) before to 17.9 (SD 13.6) during the pandemic (p<0.01). However, changes in the nurse-to-patient ratio were not significant: from 1:1.5 to 1:2 (p=0.05). Among nursing care activities, clinical risk management (n=14, 22.6%), psychological support for patients (n=22, 35.5%) and family's involvement (n=31, 50%) resulted as more challenging; 64.5% of nurses suffered from protective equipment shortages, and 66.1% experienced psychological burden. CONCLUSION: These findings can help to reflect on how to better prepare both nurses and health care institutions for other events that may threaten clinical practice and require major and innovative efforts.