To Get Vaccinated or Not? The Vaccination Decision-Making by Healthcare Professionals Working in Haematology: A Qualitative Study.

Haematological patients are more susceptible to infections. Vaccination has always been the most effective primary prevention strategy, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the efficacy of vaccines for some haematological patients is low. Although vaccination of Healthcare Workers (HCWs) could protect patients from vaccine-preventable diseases, there is evidence of a high level of hesitation among healthcare workers in Italy. The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes towards vaccination of HCWs caring for haematology patients. Qualitative descriptive design was conducted. Twenty-one HCWs were interviewed. Content analysis was applied to the qualitative data. The following themes were generated from the analysis: "Trust", "Decision-making process focusing on individual health", "Decision-making process focusing on community health", "Changing opinion", and "Two sides of vaccination commitment". The most hesitant HCWs were oriented towards individual health. They perceived a lack of benefit from vaccines, feared side effects, or were influenced by negative experiences of others. In contrast, community-health-oriented HCWs showed more positive attitudes towards vaccination. Some hesitant HCWs changed their opinion on vaccination because they began to reflect on the importance of vaccination for the community. The change in opinion of some HCWs interviewed provided insight into the importance of focusing organisational efforts on collective responsibility.

[The covid-19 emergency in the words of the nurses]. / L'emergenza covid-19 nelle parole degli infermieri 1. Cosa è cambiato nel modo di lavorare 2. Essere preparati all'emergenza 3. Lavorare in team 4. La solitudine e l'isolamento dei pazienti 5. La solitudine degli infermieri 6. Le scelte difficili 7. L'organizzazione del lavoro e dei reparti 8. Cosa cambierà dopo il covid-19.

. The covid-19 emergency in the words of the nurses . This special issue of AIR is dedicated to the direct professional experiences and personal testimonies of a sample of the nursing personnel during the most dramatic phase of the covid-19 pandemia in the most severely affected regions of Northern Italy (Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Friuli, Trentino, Emilia Romagna Regions). The decision to adopt a research strategy aimed to give visibility and voice to colleagues representing some of the key hospitals of the regions obliged to a radical reorganisation of their structures and organisation of care, was adopted to catch from inside the crisis scenarios the expected mix of intense emotions (from anxiety, to fatigue, to personal and professional uncertainty, to the burden of impotence), and of needed technical creativity and efficiency which were requested to face a totally unexpected situation where guidelines could hardly be of help. The interview/diaries/focus groups were carefully planned not so much in terms of the contents, but with attention to the acceptance of the interviewed to enter in a free dialogue, with no Q&A, to be recorded, and to last for the time felt to be by both sides appropriate. The texts which are reported in this dossier are fragments of the recordings (overall more then 30 hours), without adjustments. It has been agreed that while all the names of the participants are provided as 'authors', the individual contributions are anonymous (not out of privacy consideration!) as they are part of a collective narrative, which reflects the great variability of the languages and of the perceived-expressed experiences and memories. The material has been organised in sections which are conceived as 'verbal snapshots' taken from the networks of care settings, but at the same time of the places and houses where the colleagues were literally full-time living, to assure unaccountable overtime working hours, and the requested 'safety distances' and lockdowns. The titles of the 8 sections coincide somehow with the principal components of the chain of activities and challenges which had to be faced: The changes in everyday's care, How to be prepared to the emergency, The teamwork, The loneliness and the isolation of the patients, The loneliness of the nurses, The difficult choices, The organization of the work and of the wards, change after covid-19. The core of the dossier is framed by boxes which provide also a minimum background of the administrative and epidemiological data on the pandemia in the regions of interest (it is interesting to remind that the central-southern areas of Italy have been far less affected), and a brief concluding reflection on reflection on the post-pandemia from the nursing point of view.