Nursing care during COVID-19 at non-COVID-19 hospital units: A qualitative study

Lone Jørgensen; Birgith Pedersen; Birgitte Lerbæk; Helle Haslund-Thomsen; Charlotte Brun Thorup; Maja Thomsen Albrechtsen; Sara Jacobsen; Marie Germund Nielsen; Kathrine Hoffmann Kusk; Britt Laugesen; Siri Lygum Voldbjerg; Mette Grønkjær; Karin Bundgaard

doi:10.1177/20571585211047429

Nursing care during COVID-19 at non-COVID-19 hospital units: A qualitative study

Nord J Nurs Res. 2022 Jun;42(2):101-108. doi: 10.1177/20571585211047429.

Authors

Lone Jørgensen^{1

2

3}, Birgith Pedersen^{1

2

4}, Birgitte Lerbæk^{2

5}, Helle Haslund-Thomsen^{2

3

6}, Charlotte Brun Thorup^{2

3

4}, Maja Thomsen Albrechtsen², Sara Jacobsen², Marie Germund Nielsen^{2

7}, Kathrine Hoffmann Kusk², Britt Laugesen^{2

8}, Siri Lygum Voldbjerg^{2

3

9}, Mette Grønkjær^{2

3}, Karin Bundgaard^{2

3

10}

Affiliations

¹ Clinic for Surgery and Cancer Treatment, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
² Clinical Nursing Research Unit, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
³ Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁴ Clinical Cancer Research Centre, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁵ Clinic for Internal and Emergency Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁶ Clinic for Anesthesiology, Children, Circulation and Women, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁷ Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁸ Center for Clinical Guidelines, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
⁹ Department of Nursing Education, University College North Denmark, Aalborg, Denmark.
¹⁰ Clinic for Neuro-, Head and Orthopaedic Diseases, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.

Abstract

The maintenance of physical distance, the absence of relatives and the relocation of registered nurses to COVID-19 units presumably affects nursing care at non-COVID-19 units. Using a qualitative design, this study explored registered nurses' experiences of how COVID-19 influenced nursing care in non-COVID-19 units at a Danish university hospital during the first wave of the virus. The study is reported using the COREQ checklist. The analysis offered two findings: (1) the challenge of an increased workload for registered nurses remaining in non-COVID-19 units and (2) the difficulty of navigating the contradictory needs for both closeness to and distance from patients. The study concluded that several factors challenged nursing care in non-COVID-19 units during the COVID-19 pandemic. These may have decreased the amount of contact between patients and registered nurses, which may have contributed to a task-oriented approach to nursing care, leading to missed nursing care.

Keywords: COVID-19; content analysis; non-pandemic units; nursing; qualitative; registered nurses.