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Nurses’ experiences of being recruited and transferred to a new sub‐intensive care unit devoted to COVID‐19 patients
Author(s) -
Danielis Matteo,
Peressoni Luca,
Piani Tommaso,
Colaetta Tiziana,
Mesaglio Maura,
Mattiussi Elisa,
Palese Alvisa
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of nursing management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1365-2834
pISSN - 0966-0429
DOI - 10.1111/jonm.13253
Subject(s) - thematic analysis , nursing , context (archaeology) , intensive care unit , feeling , pandemic , focus group , covid-19 , qualitative research , unit (ring theory) , medicine , perception , psychology , sociology , social psychology , paleontology , social science , mathematics education , disease , pathology , neuroscience , anthropology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , biology
Aim To describe the experiences of Italian nurses who have been urgently and compulsorily allocated to a newly established COVID‐19 sub‐intensive care unit. Background In the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic, no studies have documented the experience of nurses urgently reallocated to a newly created unit. Method A qualitative descriptive study. Twenty‐four nurses working in a sub‐intensive care unit created for COVID‐19 patients participated in four focus groups. Audio‐recorded interviews were verbatim‐transcribed; then, a thematic analysis was performed. Results The experience of nurses was summarized along three lines: (a) ‘becoming a frontline nurse’, (b) ‘living a double‐faced professional experience’ and (c) ‘advancing in nursing practice’. Conclusions Nurses who experienced being mandatorily recruited and urgently reallocated to a COVID‐19 unit lived through a mix of negative feelings in the early stages, a double‐faced situation during the episode and, at the end, the perception of global growth as a person, as a team and as a professional. Implication for nursing management Nurse managers could play a key role in identifying and preparing nurses in advance to mitigate their concerns and their sense of unpreparedness. The value attributed to nursing care should be promoted both during and after the current COVID‐19 pandemic.