International Nurses Day 2020: Remembering nurses who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic

A snapshot of Australian primary health care nursing workforce characteristics and reasons they work in these settings: A longitudinal retrospective study

AIM

This article aimed to provide a snapshot of demographics and professional characteristics of nursing and midwifery workforce in Australian primary health care (PHC) settings during 2015-2019 and factors that influenced their decisions to work in PHC.

DESIGN

Longitudinal retrospective survey.

METHODS

Longitudinal data that were collected from a descriptive workforce survey were retrieved retrospectively. After collation and cleaning, data from 7066 participants were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS version 27.0.

RESULTS

The majority of the participants were female, aged between 45 and 64 years old and working in general practice. There was a small yet steady increase in the number of participants in the 25-34 age group and a downward trend in the percentage of postgraduate study completion among participants. While factors perceived most/least important to their decision to work in PHC were consistent during 2015-2019, these factors differed among different age groups and postgraduate qualification holders. This study's findings are both novel and supported by previous research. It is necessary to tailor recruitment and retention strategies to nurses/midwives' age groups and qualifications to attract and retain highly skilled and qualified nursing and midwifery workforce in PHC settings.

The Effect of Outcome vs. Process Accountability-Focus on Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Background

The foundation of a safe practice is accountability, especially outcome- rather than process-focused accountability, particularly during pandemics such as COVID-19. Accountability is an essential behavior that promotes congruence between nursing actions and standards associated with quality of care. Moreover, the scant research examining whether one accountability focus is superior in motivating humans to better task performance yields inconclusive results.

Aims

Systematically examine the effect of an outcome- vs. process-accountability focus on performance and identify any moderating variables.

Design

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Data sources

PsycINFO, Medline, PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL databases, with all publications to November 2020.

Review methods

A systematic search using Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines was performed. Statistical analysis and forest plots were performed using MetaXL 5.3. Heterogeneity was presented using I² statistics and Q tests, and possible publication bias was assessed with a Doi plot and the LFK index.

Results

Seven studies representing nine experiments involving 1,080 participants were included. The pooled effect of the nine experiments on task performance failed to show significant differences (mean = −0.09; 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI]: −0.21, 0.03), but a significant moderating effect of task complexity was demonstrated. Specifically, outcome accountability exerts a beneficial effect in complex tasks (mean = −0.48 [95%CI: −0.62, −0.33]) whereas process accountability improves the performance in simpler tasks (mean = 0.96 [95%CI: 0.72, 1.20]).

Conclusion

These findings demonstrated that accountability focus by itself cannot serve as a sole motivator of better performance, because task complexity moderates the link between accountability focus and task performance. Outcome accountability exerts a beneficial effect for more-complex tasks, whereas process accountability improves the performance of simpler tasks. These findings are crucial in nursing, where it is typically assumed that a focus on outcomes is more important than a focus on processes.

Italian nurses' COVID-19 experiences from mass media interviews: a qualitative study

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic is heavily hitting healthcare systems around the world, and nurses are battling in the front line. Previous studies have reported nurses' responses to catastrophic situations, but also interviews released by Italian nurses to the main mass media channels could bear important messages for policy makers and stakeholders. This study describes Italian front-line nurses' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic through television interviews.

Methods

This is a descriptive qualitative study. Data were collected through purposive sampling from Italian front-line nurses' interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. Publicly available interviews between 7th and 29th March 2020 were collected from the websites of national and regional television stations. Thematic content analysis was used to describe, summarize, and classify data into macro themes. The study is compliant with Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research.

Results

A total of 21 television interviews were collected from front-line clinical nurses, nursing managers, nursing trade union representatives and representatives of the Nursing Regulator. Thematic analysis yielded four macro-themes: psycho-social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health professionals; altered patient relationships; personal safety; recognition and promotion of the profession.

Conclusions

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated some problems already present, such as the shortage of nurses, but has also turned the spotlight on the nursing profession. Highly involved and affected by the pandemic, nurses have become better known by the public and often also protagonists of public discussions. It is important that nurses' value as allies of the public emerges stronger from this dramatic situation.

The experiences of student nurses in a pandemic: A qualitative study

Aim/objective

To record and learn from the experiences of students working on clinical placement in a pandemic.

Background

In March of 2020, final and second year student nurses in England were given the option to join the Covid-19 pandemic work-force, paid as high-level health care assistants.

Methods/design

Using qualitative methods and rapid analysis techniques, this study gathered the unique experiences of 16 final year students, from all fields of nursing at a University in the East of England, who chose to complete their final extended placement in a diverse range of clinical placements at the height of the first wave of the pandemic. Data was collected between July and September 2020.

Results

Five key themes were identified across our data: rationale for undertaking the extended placement, role tensions, caring for patients and their families, the impact on teaching and learning, and personal health and wellbeing.

Conclusions

While our participants reported largely positive experiences including a perceived heightened preparedness for qualification, their experiences provide important insights for nurse educators for the education and support of future students going into similar situations, in particular relating to welfare and support, preparation for placement, resilience, e-learning and learning on the front line.