Exploring the challenges of taiwanese nurses in the COVID-19 post-pandemic era.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fluctuating nurse resignation rates highlighted an understudied area in healthcare: post-pandemic challenges in clinical settings. This study, conducted from May to November 2023, employed a qualitative inquiry using focus groups to delve into these challenges. Six focus group sessions, involving 33 nurse participants recruited through snowball sampling from various hospital settings were conducted to explore their clinical experiences during and after the pandemic. Thematic analysis revealed two primary themes: the 'Invisibility of Nurses' within the healthcare system and the 'Moral Duty of Nursing Practice'. These findings illuminate a tension between the overlooked role of nurses and their ethical obligations, underscoring a critical need for policy reassessment. The study advocates for systemic changes, particularly in the undervaluation of the nursing profession and the National Health Insurance system, to address the poor working environment and mitigate long-term nursing shortages. This research deepens understanding of post-pandemic nursing workforce challenges in Taiwan, highlighting the need for policy evolution to enhance recognition and support for the nursing industry. It is suggested to provide tangible compensation to acknowledge nurses' daily care and health education for patients. A healthier working environment can be enhanced by collaborative efforts between healthcare institutions and nurses.

A Constructivist Grounded Theory of Staff Experiences Relating to Early Mobilisation of Mechanically Ventilated Patients in Intensive Care.

Early mobilisation of mechanically ventilated patients has been suggested to be effective in mitigating muscle weakness, yet it is not a common practice. Understanding staff experiences is crucial to gain insights into what might facilitate or hinder its implementation. In this constructivist grounded theory study, data from two Scottish intensive care units were collected to understand healthcare staff experiences relating to early mobilisation in mechanical ventilation. Data included observations of mobilisation activities, individual staff interviews and two focus groups with multidisciplinary staff. Managing Risks emerged as the core category and was theorised using the concept of risk. The middle-range theory developed in this study suggests that the process of early mobilisation starts by staff defining patient status and includes a process of negotiating patient safety, which in turn enables performing accountable mobilisation within the dynamic context of an intensive care unit setting.

Young Adults Rehabilitation Needs and Experiences following Stroke (YARNS): A review of digital accounts to inform the development of age-appropriate support and rehabilitation.

AIMS: To explore younger adults' experiences of stroke rehabilitation to inform practice, education and future health policy. DESIGN: Qualitative analysis of digital and other media sources on public platforms. METHODS: Between March and June 2020, the experiences of younger adult stroke survivors aged 18 to 45 at the time of the stroke were collected. Data were gathered from publicly available sources, including social media, and from English-speaking users. In total, 117 accounts from 103 participants were identified from films, autobiographical books, blogs, websites, videos, Twitter and Instagram. Data analysis followed narrative and multimodal analysis with a focus on rehabilitation needs. RESULTS: Younger adult stroke survivors make sense of their experience by reflecting on how stroke has impacted their lives. Accounts reflected an emotional journey between the past self, the present self and evolving self, as well as associated challenges such as the impact on relationships and careers. The majority of accounts presented transitions as problematic, including the receipt of the initial diagnosis, or sometimes misdiagnosis, to returning home and achieving long-term rehabilitation goals. Specialist stroke nurses were considered essential in the rehabilitation process. CONCLUSION: A complex process of recovery follows stroke for younger adult stroke populations. Challenges to the rehabilitation process need to be better understood and the role of nursing highlighted in future service provision. A series of age-related challenges were highlighted that require attention to improve the care and support offered. IMPACT: This article informs clinicians, educators, and policymakers of the age-related needs of young adult stroke survivors. Focusing on the individual and the development of age-appropriate person-centred stroke care is important. The study highlights the role of stroke nursing and challenges the current policy focus on older stroke populations as well as arguing for greater awareness of age-appropriate stroke rehabilitation in younger adults following stroke.

'Fix the issues at the coalface and mental wellbeing will be improved': a framework analysis of frontline NHS staff experiences and use of health and wellbeing resources in a Scottish health board area during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Frontline healthcare staff working in pandemics have been reported to experience mental health issues during the early and post-peak stages. To alleviate these problems, healthcare organisations have been providing support for their staff, including organisational, cognitive behavioural and physical and mental relaxation interventions. This paper reports the findings of a study commissioned by a Scottish NHS health board area during the initial outbreak of COVID-19. The study aimed to understand the experience of NHS staff relating to the provision of wellbeing interventions between March and August 2020. METHODS: Data were gathered from free-text comments of eight surveys completed by a wide range of staff across sites within one NHS health board in Scotland. We conducted a framework analysis of the data. RESULTS: Our findings show that despite the provision of relaxational and cognitive behavioural interventions to support staff wellbeing during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were barriers to access, including heavy workload, understaffing, inconvenient locations and the stigma of being judged. Organisational factors were the most frequently reported support need amongst frontline staff across sites. CONCLUSIONS: While relaxational and cognitive behavioural interventions were well received by staff, barriers to accessing them still existed. Staff support in the context of organisational factors, such as engagement with managers was deemed as the most important for staff wellbeing. Managers play a key role in everyday organisational processes and therefore are in the right position to meet increasing frontline staff demands due to the pandemic and removing barriers to accessing wellbeing support. Healthcare managers should be aware of organisational factors that might increase job demands and protect organisational resources that can promote wellbeing for frontline staff.

Early mobilisation in mechanically ventilated patients: a systematic integrative review of definitions and activities.

BACKGROUND: Mechanically ventilated patients often develop muscle weakness post-intensive care admission. Current evidence suggests that early mobilisation of these patients can be an effective intervention in improving their outcomes. However, what constitutes early mobilisation in mechanically ventilated patients (EM-MV) remains unclear. We aimed to systematically explore the definitions and activity types of EM-MV in the literature. METHODS: Whittemore and Knafl's framework guided this review. CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ASSIA, and Cochrane Library were searched to capture studies from 2000 to 2018, combined with hand search of grey literature and reference lists of included studies. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tools were used to assess the methodological quality of included studies. Data extraction and quality assessment of studies were performed independently by each reviewer before coming together in sub-groups for discussion and agreement. An inductive and data-driven thematic analysis was undertaken on verbatim extracts of EM-MV definitions and activities in included studies. RESULTS: Seventy-six studies were included from which four major themes were inferred: (1) non-standardised definition, (2) contextual factors, (3) negotiated process and (4) collaboration between patients and staff. The first theme indicates that EM-MV is either not fully defined in studies or when a definition is provided this is not standardised across studies. The remaining themes reflect the diversity of EM-MV activities which depends on patients' characteristics and ICU settings; the negotiated decision-making process between patients and staff; and their interdependent relationship during the implementation. CONCLUSIONS: This review highlights the absence of an agreed definition and on what constitutes early mobilisation in mechanically ventilated patients. To advance research and practice an agreed and shared definition is a pre-requisite.