Nurses’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in Duhok City

Authors

  • Ronak Muhammad Barwari Department of Nursing, College of Nursing, Duhok University, Duhok, Iraq.
  • Sarah Jawad Kadhim Department of Nursing, College of Nursing, Duhok University, Duhok, Iraq.
  • Khalid Ibrahim Mohammed-Saber Department of Nursing, College of Nursing, Duhok University, Duhok, Iraq.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15218/ejnm.2022.05

Keywords:

COVID-19, Nursing Care, Pandemic

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Covid-19 is one of the health issues that has had a major impact on health services all around the world. It was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2021. The nurses were on the frontline of the fight against the Covid-19, which had physical, psychological, social, and economic effects on health and health outcomes. It is crucial that nurses’ experiences during the pandemic are identified. This study aimed to explore nurses’ experiences, knowledge, and practices regarding the pandemic.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses in the Duhok City in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The online survey was distributed to nurses using a structured questionnaire. The number of nurses who participated in the study was 110. The data col-lection was conducted from 10th May to 10th August 2021. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS statistical software (version 23.0). Descriptive statistical analysis was conducted using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation.
Results: The study revealed that the mean age of nurses was 30 years with a standard deviation of 7 years. The highest percentage of the nurses (44.5) were a Bachelor’s degree holders. The nurses had concerns regarding their employment status, workload, and threatened to leave their job. Having sufficient personal protective devices and work protocols to help decrease the risk of infection and stress and anxiety were important issues. Nurses need more training and support systems from leaders and employers to go for-ward and work safely and comfortably.
Conclusions: The study highlighted essential points regarding the nurses’ experiences during the pandemic such as the impact of workload, shortage in staffing, threatened termination of employment, and having to do non-nursing activities or tasks. It was clear that the nurse managers have a significant role in providing efficient support to nurses.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Shu-Ching C, Yeur-Hur L, Shiow-Luan T. Nursing perspectives on the impacts of COVID-19. Journal of Nursing Research. 2020;28(3):e85.

Ammar A, Chtourou H, Boukhris O, Trabel-si K, Masmoudi L, Brach M, et al. COVID-19 home confinement negatively impacts social participation and life satisfaction: a worldwide multicenter study. Internation-al Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020;17(17):6237.

Halcomb E, McInnes S, Williams A, Ashley C, James S, Fernandez R, et al. The experi-ences of primary healthcare nurses during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Australia. Jour-nal of Nursing Scholarship. 2020;52(5):553-563.

Sheffler JL, Joiner TE, Sachs-Ericsson NJ. The interpersonal and psychological im-pacts of COVID-19 on risk for late-life sui-cide. The Gerontologist. 2021;61(1):23-29.

Gunawan J, Aungsuroch Y, Marzilli C, Fish-er ML, Sukarna A. A phenomenological study of the lived experience of nurses in the battle of COVID-19. Nursing Outlook. 2021.

Zhang Y, Wang C, Pan W, Zheng J, Gao J, Huang X, et al. Stress, burnout, and coping strategies of frontline nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan and Shang-hai, China. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2020;11:1154.

Sheng Q, Zhang X, Wang X, Cai C. The in-fluence of experiences of involvement in the COVID‐19 rescue task on the profes-sional identity among Chinese nurses: A qualitative study. Journal of Nursing Man-agement. 2020;28(7):1662-1669.

Fernandez R, Lord H, Halcomb E, Moxham L, Middleton R, Alananzeh I, et al. Implica-tions for COVID-19: a systematic review of nurses’ experiences of working in acute care hospital settings during a respiratory pandemic. International Journal of Nurs-ing Studies. 2020;111:103637.

Huang L, Lin G, Tang L, Yu L, Zhou Z. Special attention to nurses’ protection during the COVID-19 epidemic. Springer; 2020.

Chew C, Eysenbach G. Pandemics in the age of Twitter: content analysis of Tweets during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak. PloS One. 2010;5(11):e14118.

AL‐Abrrow H, Al‐Maatoq M, Alharbi RK, Al-noor A, Abdullah HO, Abbas S, et al. Under-standing employees’ responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic: The attractiveness of healthcare jobs. Global Business and Organi-zational Excellence. 2021;40(2):19-33.

Roberts N, McAloney-Kocaman K, Lippiett K, Ray E, Welch L, Kelly C. Levels of resilience, anxiety and depression in nurses working in respiratory clinical areas during the COVID pandemic. Respiratory Medicine. 2021;176:106219.

Mascha EJ, Schober P, Schefold JC, Stueber F, Luedi MM. Staffing with disease-based epidemiologic indices may reduce shortage of intensive care unit staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Anesthesia and Analgesia. 2020;131(1):24.

Godderis L, Boone A, Bakusic J. COVID-19: a new work-related disease threatening healthcare workers. Oxford University Press UK; 2020. p. 315-316.

Franck E, Haegdorens F, Goossens E, Van Gils Y, Portzky M, Somville F, et al. The Role of Coping Behavior in Healthcare Workers' Distress and Somatization During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology. 2021;12.

Rose S, Hartnett J, Pillai S. Healthcare work-er’s emotions, perceived stressors and cop-ing mechanisms during the COVID-19 pan-demic. PloS One. 2021;16(7):e0254252.

Cai Z, Cui Q, Liu Z, Li J, Gong X, Liu J, et al. Nurses endured high risks of psychological problems under the epidemic of COVID-19 in a longitudinal study in Wuhan China. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2020;131:132-137.

Karimi Z, Fereidouni Z, Behnammoghadam M, Alimohammadi N, Mousavizadeh A, Salehi T, et al. The lived experience of nurses caring for patients with COVID-19 in Iran: a phenomenological study. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy. 2020;13:1271.

Khalid I, Khalid TJ, Qabajah MR, Barnard AG, Qushmaq IA. Healthcare workers emotions, perceived stressors and coping strategies during a MERS-CoV outbreak. Clinical Medi-cine & Research. 2016;14(1):7-14.

Wood E, King R, Senek M, Robertson S, Taylor B, Tod A, et al. UK advanced prac-tice nurses’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods cross-sectional study. BMJ open. 2021;11(3):e044139.

Huang L, Chen C, Chen S, Wang H. Roles of nurses and National Nurses Associations in combating COVID‐19: Taiwan experience. International Nursing Review. 2020;67(3):318-322.

Abdulah DM, Mohammedsadiq HA, Liam-puttong P. Experiences of nurses amidst giving care to COVID‐19 patients in clinical settings in Iraqi Kurdistan: A qualitative descriptive study. Journal of Clinical Nurs-ing. 2021.

Downloads

Published

2022-05-30

How to Cite

1.
Barwari RM, Kadhim SJ, Mohammed-Saber KI. Nurses’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in Duhok City. Erbil j. nurs. midwifery [Internet]. 2022 May 30 [cited 2024 Oct. 4];5(1):43-50. Available from: https://ejnm.hmu.edu.krd/index.php/ejnm/article/view/181

Issue

Section

Original Articles