Evaluating Polish nurses' working conditions and patient safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIM: To study the relationship between Polish nurses' working conditions and their attitudes towards patient safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. BACKGROUND: Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, healthcare worldwide has been reorganised. How these changes affected patient safety for hospitalised persons is not well understood. INTRODUCTION: Difficult working conditions related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic may affect the provision of safe and effective care by healthcare staff. METHODS: This observational research was performed on the group of 577 nurses working during the COVID-19 pandemic in isolation infection wards (n = 201) and non-infectious diseases wards (n = 376) in Polish hospitals. The evaluation of working conditions was performed with an author's questionnaire, while the evaluation of factors influencing attitudes towards safety of the hospitalised patients was performed using Safety Attitudes Questionnaire. The STROBE checklist was used to report this study. RESULTS: The procedures developed by management in advance for COVID-19 patient treatment had a statistically significant influence on nurses' 'evaluation of teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, perception of management and work conditions'. Providing management with the ability to perform a swab polymerase chain reaction SARS-CoV-2 test for hospital staff in the workplace, and psychological support from professionals and employers were statistically significant for higher ratings of 'teamwork climate, safety climate, job satisfaction, stress recognition, perception of management and work conditions' by the Polish nurses. Hospital workload during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly correlated with lower evaluation of work conditions. DISCUSSION: Our study reinforces the existing literature on many fronts and demonstrates how even when operating under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions, some factors remain critical for fostering a culture of patient safety. Reinforcing patient safety practices is a imperative under these conditions. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Working conditions influence nurses' attitudes towards safety of the hospitalised patients. These are largely modifiable factors related to the workplace and include prior preparation of procedures, restrictions to extending daily work hours and psychological counselling for the staff.

[Dual practice of nurses in Poland against the current staff resources]. / Podwójna praktyka pielegniarek w Polsce na tle aktualnych zasobów kadrowych.

BACKGROUND: Employment of health care workers simultaneously in 2 workplaces (the so called dual practice) is a common phenomenon in almost every country. In Poland, a possibility of employment in 2 or more workplaces arose with the socio-political changes and the reform of the health care system. In Poland, the scale of the phenomenon, as well as its motifs and potential effects influencing both employees and the whole health care system, are still not known despite numerous studies being conducted to that end. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 1023 nurses (males and females) employed in public and non-public health care facilities in the territory of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The research tool was the authors' poll questionnaire. In the statistical elaboration, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test and the χ2 independence test were used. For all the analyses, the maximum permissible error of type I, α = 0.05, was accepted, and p ≤ 0.05 was recognized as statistically significant. RESULTS: Work experience of the nurses studied ranged 1-43 years, on average it was 23.1 years (SD = 11.1). Persons aged >40 years accounted for 77.5% (N = 793), out of whom 38.2% (N = 391) were aged 41-years and 39.3% (N = 402) >50 years. In the study group, 450 (44%) people were employed in 2 workplaces, out of whom 93.5% in the nurse position, working >160 h/month (39%). A decisive reason to take up an additional job (93.3% of the study group) were financial matters. CONCLUSIONS: Financial matters are the main reason for which almost half of the studied nurses undertake additional employment, in the scope twice as high as the work load. Research suggests the need to verify the Central Registry of Nurses and Midwives in order to precisely estimate the number of dual practice positions and the number of persons employed as nurses not only in the south of Poland but also in whole country. The results point to the necessity of further research concerning both the reasons for and consequences of dual practice for nurses, and the impact of this phenomenon on the quality of care and patient safety. Med Pr. 2021;72(2):113-21.

The Correlation between Nurses' COVID-19 Infections and Their Emotional State and Work Conditions during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has significantly influenced the functioning of Polish hospitals, and thus, the working conditions of nurses. Research on the presence of specific negative emotions in nurses may help identify deficits in the future, as well as directing preventive actions. The present research was performed among nurses (n = 158) working in Polish healthcare facilities during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, where Group A (n = 79) consisted of nurses diagnosed with COVID-19, and Group B (n = 79) nurses who have never been infected with COVID-19. To perform the research, the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale (CECS), Trait Anxiety Scale (Polish: SL-C) and the authors' survey questionnaire were used. A positive test result was generally determined more often among nurses who indicated a noninfectious ward as their main workplace, compared to nurses employed in infectious wards (64.55% positive vs 33.45% negative). Over a half of the subjects identified moderate levels of emotion suppression as the method to regulate strong emotions, while one-quarter cited high levels of suppression. Anxiety was suppressed at high and moderate levels by 97% of the subjects, depression by 86.71%, and anger by 79.48%. Infection with COVID-19 results in a higher level of anxiety and depression, as well as a feeling of increased work load.

Emotional Control among Nurses against Work Conditions and the Support Received during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: Working in the state of a pandemic is a huge mental load for the medical environment. AIM: Evaluation of emotional control among nurses against work conditions and the support received during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research was performed among nurses (n = 577) working during the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in infectious (n = 201) and non-infectious (n = 376) wards in 11 Polish hospitals. To evaluate work conditions, the questionnaire prepared by the authors and the Emotional Control Scale (Courtauld Emotional Control Scale-CECS), which rates the control of anger, depression, and fear were used. RESULTS: In the entire research group, fear had the highest rate of suppression among the negative emotions-18.25 points, 17.91 points in infectious wards and 18.44 points among nurses working in non-infectious wards; p > 0.05. The nurses fear was significantly repressed when there was no possibility of the nurses having to perform a COVID-19 test in the workplace; p < 0.05. A larger emotional supressed occurred in nurses who simultaneously declared the perception of increased stress level; p < 0.05. CONCLUSIONS: A high level of emotion suppression, especially regarding fear, combined with higher stress levels, occurring irrespective of the ward, points at the need for mental support for the researched nurses.