The COVID-19 Pandemic and Professional Nursing Practice in the Context of Hospitals.

Olga Maria Pimenta Lopes Lopes Ribeiro,Alessandro Rodrigues Perondi,Paula Cristina Da Silva Leite,João Miguel Almeida Ventura-Silva,Ana Catarina Rodrigues Da Silva Reis,Letícia De Lima Trindade,Karen Cristina Kades Andrigue,André Filipe Morais Pinto Pinto Novo,Paulo João Figueiredo Cabral Cabral Teles,Clemente Neves Sousa,Carla Gomes Da Da Rocha,Soraia Cristina De Abreu Pereira

doi:10.3390/healthcare10020326

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed challenges to health systems and institutions, which had to quickly create conditions to meet the growing health needs of the population. Thus, this study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on professional nursing practice environments and to identify the variables that affected their quality. Quantitative, observational study, conducted in 16 Portuguese hospitals, with 1575 nurses. Data were collected using a questionnaire and participants responded to two different moments in time: the pre-pandemic period and after the fourth critical period of COVID-19. The pandemic had a positive impact on the Structure and Outcome components, and a negative trend in the Process component. The variables associated with the qualification of the components and their dimensions were predominantly: work context, the exercise of functions in areas of assistance to COVID-19 patients, length of professional experience and length of experience in the service. The investment in professional practice environments impacted the improvement of organizational factors, supporting the development of nurses’ work towards the quality of care. However, it is necessary to invest in nurses’ participation, involvement and professional qualifications, which are aspects strongly dependent on the institutions’ management strategies.

Highlights

In the last decade, professional practice environments and their impact on professionals, clients, and institutions have been one of the main research areas [1,2,3,4]
In the Process component, except for the dimensions “collaboration and teamwork” and “interdependent practices in professional practice”, in all the others, the percentage was lower after the fourth critical period of COVID-19
One of the main objectives of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on professional nursing practice environments, and the results show a positive impact on the Structure and Outcome components and a negative trend on the Process component

Summary

Introduction

Professional practice environments and their impact on professionals, clients, and institutions have been one of the main research areas [1,2,3,4]. Along with the need for reorganization of health services [7], one study highlights that the current pandemic has triggered psychological experiences shaped by the structural conditions of the health system and its institutions, with its repercussions on professional practice [9]. Representing the main workforce in the health area, nursing professionals were on the front lines from the beginning of the pandemic, and experienced a negative impact on their mental health [5,10], whose severity was aggravated by the poor working conditions, which, in many situations, were present before the pandemic [7]. The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated some of the difficulties that these professionals were already facing, in hospital settings [5,11]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion