The importance of management in promoting hospital staff's mental well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic—A survey

Abstract

AimTo describe hospital staff's experiences of management actions to promote their mental well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Mental well‐being was examined on the basis of four entities: level of anxiety, support and encouragement from the manager, and the opportunity to discuss concerns about COVID‐19 with the manager.BackgroundThe workload of COVID‐19 affects the mental well‐being of staff. However, there is limited data on managers' actions to promote their mental well‐being during the pandemic.MethodsA cross‐sectional study was used to collect survey data (n = 1995) among staff working in two specialized medical care hospitals. To gain deeper understanding related issues, the survey included open questions, which were answered by 178 participants.ResultsThe results indicate that those staff who felt they had received support, encouragement, and the opportunity to discuss of COVID‐19 worries with a manager experienced less anxiety.ConclusionsThe study provides an insight into managers' actions to promote staff's mental well‐being during the COVID‐19 pandemic.Implications for Nursing ManagementThe manager's actions have a significant effect on the anxiety levels of staff. During the pandemic, the well‐being of staff is a priority that should be visible to both hospital administrators and policymakers.