Perceived Risk of COVID-19 and Employee Decision-Making: How Psychological Distress during the Pandemic Increases Negative Performance Outcomes among Healthcare Workers

Practicing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences of Canadian Hospital-Based Occupational Therapists

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted hospital operations worldwide, including services delivered by occupational therapists (OTs). Purpose. This study aimed to understand the experiences of OTs at one Canadian, tertiary care hospital during the 2021-2022 period of the pandemic. Method. We used a qualitative descriptive approach to describe the experiences of OTs during the pandemic. Findings. While there were similarities in the 10 participating OTs' experiences, salient differences were largely linked to the method of service delivery. Inpatient OTs benefitted from the support of colleagues and developed coping strategies in response to high levels of workplace stress and anxiety and a perceived lack of support from many levels of society. Clinically, they spent more time on discharge planning with fewer resources. OTs providing virtual/hybrid services experienced unique challenges related to adapting their practice to a virtual platform, including challenges assessing patients. They described benefits associated with virtual/hybrid service delivery and brought up concerns around equity of service provision. Conclusion. OTs in this hospital setting faced challenges in providing patient care and supporting their own wellness during the pandemic. Future research could explore the role of leadership in supporting occupational therapy practice during public health emergencies.

Determinants of intention to leave among nurses and physicians in a hospital setting during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has brought to light the profound impact that large-scale disease outbreaks can have on healthcare systems and the dedicated professionals who serve within them. It becomes increasingly important to explore strategies for retaining nurses and physicians within hospital settings during such challenging times. This paper aims to investigate the determinants of retention among nurses and physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

A systematic review of other potential determinants impacting retention rates during the pandemic was carried out. Secondly, a meta-analysis on the prevalence of intention to leave for nurses and physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

FINDINGS

A comprehensive search was performed within four electronic databases on March 17 2023. Fifty-five papers were included in the systematic review, whereas thirty-three papers fulfilled the eligibility criteria for the meta-analysis. The systematic review resulted in six themes of determinants impacting intention to leave: personal characteristics, job demands, employment services, working conditions, work relationships, and organisational culture. The main determinants impacting the intention to leave are the fear of COVID-19, age, experience, burnout symptoms and support. Meta-analysis showed a prevalence of intent to leave the current job of 38% for nurses (95% CI: 26%-51%) and 29% for physicians (95% CI: 21%-39%), whereas intention to leave the profession for nurses 28% (95% CI: 21%-34%) and 24% for physicians (95% CI: 23%-25%).

CONCLUSION

The findings of this paper showed the critical need for hospital managers to address the concerning increase in nurses' and physicians' intentions to leave during the COVID-19 pandemic. This intention to leave is affected by a complex conjunction of multiple determinants, including the fear of COVID-19 and the confidence in and availability of personal protective equipment. Moreover, individual factors like age, experience, burnout symptoms, and support are maintained in this review. Understanding the influence of determinants on retention during the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to formulate prospective strategies for retaining nurses and physicians within hospital settings.

Psychological distress in healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES

Healthcare workers serving during the COVID-19 pandemic may have been exposed to high work overload, which may have had an impact on their physical, mental, and social health. The aim of this study was to assess the risk factors associated with psychological distress among healthcare workers serving during the COVID-19 pandemic from January 2020 to December 2022.

METHODS

A systematic review was conducted based on the 2020 PRISMA statement. Articles were searched in the Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PsycINFO databases.

RESULTS

A total of 59 articles were included in this systematic review. It was observed that the prevalence of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic was high. Female sex, being a nurse, being young, living alone/being single, and having a chronic disease or psychiatric disorder history are the main risk factors at the personal level. Other occupational and pandemic-related factors such as having many years of work experience, the presence of COVID-19 symptoms and contact history, not enough sleep, having lower family support and limited social relationships, fear of infecting friends and family, having a reduced perception of protection by personal protective equipment, working on the frontline, and having longer service duration were found to be factors influencing the development of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CONCLUSIONS

There are personal, interpersonal, and organizational risk factors that can lead to the occurrence of psychological distress among healthcare staff working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impacts of Environmental Dynamism on Chinese Tour Guides’ Sustainable Performance: Factors Related to Vitality, Positive Stress Mindset and Supportive Policy

Although previous research shows great interest in improving the sustainability of organizations’ performance, little is known about individual sustainable performance, especially for special groups such as tour guides. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study aimed to investigate the effect of environmental dynamism caused by COVID-19 on tour guides’ sustainable performance and mediating role of vitality and intervention mechanism in this relationship. Adopting a quantitative research method, we collected data from 382 professional tour guides in China via three surveys. The Structural Equation Model (SEM) and PROCESS were used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that: (1) environmental dynamism was negatively related to tour guides’ sustainable performance and (2) vitality at work mediated this negative effect; (3) a positive stress mindset moderated the relationship between environmental dynamism and vitality; (4) supportive policy’s moderating role in the relationship of vitality and sustainable performance was not significant. The above conclusions contribute to the literature about the external environment, emotional state, performance management and application boundary of COR theory in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.