Preparedness of the COVID-19 pandemic : experience of the emergency nurses in Malta

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 viral pandemic was announced as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020. The virus was clearly threatening the health care systems across the globe including the emergency departments. The emergency department played a crucial role in addressing the pandemic. The emergency nurses have been widely recognised as being frontline nurses that extensively experienced risk of stress which led to emotional strain and psychological distress. Furthermore, this emotional strain and psychological distress are compounded further by ethical dilemmas that arose with the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: This study aimed to identify challenges the emergency nurses faced; explore the impact of the social and emotional wellbeing of the nurses’; explore the nurses’ views regarding the management of the pandemic and explore the positive and favourable aspects associated with the pandemic. Methodology: A qualitative descriptive design methodology was implemented with thematic analysis. Seven emergency nurses participated in this study from the main local emergency department in Malta. Participants were asked to take part in an online platform/ forum via an invitation email. The participants were asked a series of question/ statements over a period of 8 weeks. Each question was asked at an interval of two weeks. Results: Data revealed that the emergency nurses went through negative emotions such as heart break, burnout, fear of not doing their utmost and blame. Such emotions are associated with psychological and emotional strain. On the other hand, results also showed how resilient emergency nurses were and how appropriate self-care made them deliver better care to their patients. Conclusion: There are gaps in the preparedness of the emergency nurses that must be addressed for future pandemics, for example the lack of psychological help to the family members of emergency nurses and the lack of coping mechanisms to emergency nurses, with the hope in development of policies and initiatives that will help to enhance preparedness.