Social Representation about Pediatric Hospital Services for Providing Care to Patients Suspected of COVID-19 from a Nursing Perspective

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The organization of pediatric services is essential in the current process of confronting the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To describe, from a nursing perspective, the social representation on management in the organization of pediatric hospital services for the care of patients suspected of COVID-19. Methods: A qualitative study of transcendental phenomenological methodological orientation was carried out at Octavio de la Concepción de la Pedraja Pediatric Hospital from Holguín, Cuba, between January and April 2021. The knowledge acquired from the experience of nurses, five supervisors, three area heads and eight ward chiefs, selected by nonprobabilistic sampling, was integrated. The following phases were used descriptive, structural and discussion. The descriptive phase consisted of three stages choice of technique, semistructured interview and elaboration of the description. The structural phase had the following stages reading, determination of the central topic and expression in scientific language. In the results discussion phase, the results were related to the conclusions and findings of researchers to understand the possible differences or similarities for further enhancement. Results: Four categories emerged from the data analysis: design of nursing care protocols for COVID-19 positive and suspect patients;reorganization, recruitment and training of personnel;organization of working groups according to clinical picture and rapid test or PCR results;and general measures. Conclusions: The organization of nursing care services by groups avoided the collapse of the nursing human resource and guaranteed the availability of beds, as well as staff own safety and patient safety, to minimize in-hospital transmissibility. © 2022, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.