Pandemic Responsiveness in an Acute Care Setting: A Community Hospital's Utilization of Operational Resources During COVID-19

Experiences of discharge planning practices among Indonesian nurses: A qualitative study

Background

Discharge planning is vital to preventing hospital readmission, and nurses play a key role. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to hospital services that may persist or recur. Therefore, exploring nurses' experiences with discharge planning practices before and during this pandemic is crucial.

Objective

This study aimed to describe the experiences of discharge planning practices among nurses at an Indonesian tertiary hospital before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A qualitative descriptive study design was used. Telephone interviews were conducted to collect data among ten nurses from March 2019 and continued between December 2020 and August 2021. Content analysis was done for data analysis.

Results

Two main themes emerged: 1) Challenges in discharge planning practices and 2) Perceived discharge planning as a professional responsibility. Implementing the inpatient ward fusion policy as part of the hospital's pandemic response presented greater challenges to nurses in coordinating care and performing discharge planning. Fear of COVID-19 infection, social distancing measures, and using personal protective equipment also affected how nurses delivered discharge education during the pandemic. However, the nurses sensed a greater responsibility to ensure the maintenance of essential components of discharge planning procedures to guarantee the patient's capability to perform self-care at home.

Conclusion

Nurses viewed discharge planning practices as their responsibility and continued them during the pandemic despite facing various challenges. In addition to recognizing the significance of nurses' roles in discharge planning practices and overall patient care, it is crucial to anticipate and address the diverse working patterns and styles among healthcare professionals in unified wards, ensuring effective coordination.

"Building the plane while flying it" Reflections on pandemic preparedness and response; an organisational case study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to learn about acute health organisations experiences implementing a pandemic response plan in real-time. This study was conducted to explore organisational leader's perspectives and experience activating a COVID-19 pandemic response plan in their health service and the impact of this on service provision, clinicians, and consumers.

METHODS

This study was conducted at a large metropolitan health service in Australia that provides acute, subacute, and residential aged care services. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 key participants from the COVID-19 leadership team between November-January 2021/2022. A semi-structured interview guide was developed to explore how the health service developed a clinical governance structure, policy and procedures and experience when operationalising each element within the Hierarchy of Controls Framework. Thematic analysis was used to code data and identify themes. A cross-sectional survey of frontline healthcare workers on the impacts and perceptions of infection control practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, was also completed in 2021 with 559 responses.

RESULTS

Twelve organisational leaders completed the semi-structured interviews. Key themes that emerged were: (1) Building the plane while flying it, (2) A unified communications strategy, (3) Clinicians fear 'my job is going to kill me', (4) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supply and demand, and (5) Maintaining a workforce. When surveyed, front-line healthcare workers responded positively overall about the health services pandemic response, in terms of communication, access to PPE, education, training, and availability of resources to provide a safe environment.

CONCLUSION

Health service organisations were required to respond rapidly to meet service needs, including implementing a pandemic plan, developing a command structure and strategies to communicate and address the workforce needs. This study provides important insights for consideration when health service leaders are responding to future pandemics. Future pandemic plans should include detailed guidance for acute and long-term care providers in relation to organisational responsibilities, supply chain logistics and workforce preparation.