Workplace Well-Being and Intent to Stay by Health Care Workers Reassigned during the First COVID-19 Wave: Results of a Swiss Survey.

Ingrid Gilles,Cédric Mabire,Margaux Perriraz,Isabelle Peytremann-Bridevaux

doi:10.3390/ijerph18178976

Abstract

Our study aimed at investigating the way not having the choice to be reassigned was associated to a poorer experience of reassignment among health care workers (HCWs) during the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and indirectly to a lower workplace well-being and reduced intent to stay at the hospital. We also investigated the moderating role of the perceived hospital management responsiveness on these associations. A cross sectional survey was sent to all professionals from 11 hospitals and clinics in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, in July 2020. Out of 2811 professionals who completed the survey, 436 were HCWs reassigned to COVID-19 units during the first wave of the pandemic and constituted our analysis sample. Results indicated that hospital management responsiveness moderated the association between lack of choice and reassignment experience, indicating that the more HCWs perceived responsiveness, the less the lack of choice affected their experience of reassignment and thus their intent to stay and workplace well-being. Lack of choice during reassignments can reduce intent to stay and workplace well-being, in particular if hospital management is not perceived to be responsive during the crisis. Attempts by hospital management to find solutions, such as flexibility in working hours or extraordinary leaves, can alleviate the perceived constraints of reassignment and be considered signs of responsiveness from hospital management.

Highlights

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a major public health concern in March2020 [1]
Such reassignment can represent an additional source of anxiety for health care workers’ (HCWs), who can fear being unable to provide appropriate care if assigned to specialties that do not correspond to their expertise [8]
We proposed that the lack of choice in being reassigned was associated to a negative experience of the reassignment and indirectly to lower well-being and decreased intent to stay. We proposed that these associations were conditional on how reassigned HCWs perceived hospital management responsiveness: the more hospital management was perceived as responsive towards the crisis, the weaker was the association between lack of choice and reassignment experience

Summary

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a major public health concern in March2020 [1]. The frequent restructuring of units and involvement in setting up of specialized pandemic clinics or staging of facility operations exacerbated feelings of uncertainty and stress [6,7] In this context, many HCWs were reassigned to COVID-19 units, most of the time outside their usual clinical specialty and/or expertise, and had to work extra shifts and longer hours to meet the high volume of patients. Many HCWs were reassigned to COVID-19 units, most of the time outside their usual clinical specialty and/or expertise, and had to work extra shifts and longer hours to meet the high volume of patients Such reassignment can represent an additional source of anxiety for HCWs, who can fear being unable to provide appropriate care if assigned to specialties that do not correspond to their expertise (e.g., non-intensive care unit nurses having to function as intensive care unit nurses) [8]

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