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

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. The objective of this study was to reduce the work-related stress index from 20.2 to 15. 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. The stress index score declined from 20.2 to 8.2 on the stress and anxiety to viral epidemics-9 scale. 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.