[A Quality Improvement Project for Reducing Work-Related Stress of Nurses in Converting an Oncology Ward Into a Designated COVID-19 Ward During the COVID-19 Pandemic].

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND & PROBLEMS The community spread of SARS-CoV-2 occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2021 in Taiwan. Due to the large number of COVID-19 patients, demand for healthcare capacity had also increased. In response to the massive influx of patients with COVID-19 in our hospital, a designated COVID-19 ward was established. In addition, the oncology ward was also quickly transformed into a designated COVID-19 ward that shared staff and work schedules with the originally designed COVID-19 ward during the pandemic period. The process of setting up the ward, training personnel, and providing independent care to COVID-19 patients and the period of professional cooperation with medical staff from the infectious disease ward caused great burden and pressure on nurses. PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to reduce the work-related stress index from 20.2 to 15. RESOLUTION Cross-training and in-service courses were implemented to assist the oncology nurses to learn nursing care for patients with COVID-19. Five solutions were discussed and implemented in a timely manner. The interventions included the unifying the logistical flows between wards, optimizing ward environments, providing education and training on COVID-19, launching a new communication platform to facilitate discussions and gather various opinions, and implementing flexible scheduling. RESULTS: The stress index score declined from 20.2 to 8.2 on the stress and anxiety to viral epidemics-9 scale. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study may be referenced to assist nurses and nursing managers when making preparations to transform oncology wards into designed COVID-19 wards.