Reflections of Health Care Workers on Their In-Hospital Experiences During the Onset of COVID-19

ABSTRACT

The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic intensified the role of healthcare workers in hospitals. This study examines how healthcare workers reflected on their in-hospital experiences in the early stages of the pandemic in North America. Audio diary entries from The Nocturnist podcast recorded from March – June 2020 were analyzed using epistemic network analysis (ENA) and heat map models. Overall, there was a shift from responding to immediate needs in March 2020 (such as Anger with Policies and Fear with Resource Availability) to deeper reflections in May-June 2020, more focused on Psychosocial Support and Purpose and more complex emotions involving Sadness and Compassion. Uncertainty was a prominent emotion throughout the May – June 2020 period. These results help document the complexity of reflections early in the pandemic, while informing ways to better support health care workers in future crisis. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.