The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on occupational satisfaction, work-related stress of nursing personnel and quality of patient care

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated adversities associated with the working conditions of healthcare professionals, contributing to the deterioration of their physical and mental health, particularly as a result of work overload and daily stressors such as long working hours, low pay, lack of professional recognition, and high risk of infection. Purpose: The investigation of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, on occupational satisfaction, on work-related stress and in the quality of care of the nursing staff. Material and Method: Articles were searched in the electronic databases Medline, PubMed central, and Google Scholar. In Medline databases, PubMed central, Google Scholar, the combination of indexing words was used: “oc¬cupational satisfaction, nurses, quality of patient care, Covid -19 pandemic”, while in the PubMed database the ad¬vanced search option was used and the key words: "work-related stress, nurses, quality of care, Covid -19 pandemic". Results: From the literature search, ten (10) studies met the inclusion criteria of the review. Upon analysis of these ten (10) studies, six (6) found an impact on occupational satisfaction affecting the quality of care, and four (4) studies identified a relationship between work-related stress and quality of care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussion - Conclusions: The collection of data and their analysis demonstrated that the healthcare system was severely tested during the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors influencing the occupational satisfaction and work-related stress of nurses, as well as patient care quality, include the increase in patient numbers, workload and working con¬ditions, prolonged work hours, and shortages of staff and resources. Healthcare professionals endeavoured to cope with challenging work conditions, aiming ultimately to provide the best possible care to patients.