The Experience of Palliative Care Nurses in Qatar During the Time of COVID-19: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of significant confusion and fear for healthcare workers as they try to maintain some sense of normalcy within their daily practices. One of the many areas affected by this pandemic has been palliative care. Palliative care nurses were thrust into a world of chaos as they faced increasing numbers of patients who were in the process of dying. PURPOSE: The aim of this research was to explore the caring experiences of palliative care nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A qualitative interpretive description design was used to explore the experience of nurses caring for dying patients in a palliative care unit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-two nurses working in a palliative care unit participated in this study. Data were collected during 1.5- to 2-hour focus group sessions that were guided by open-ended questions. RESULTS: The collected data were analyzed and coded into themes, including (a) transitioning to the new normal, (b) ethical dilemmas, and (c) collaboration and support for fellow colleagues. CONCLUSIONS: Although the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet ended, this study provides relevant implications for practice. These implications include (a) holding continuing education sessions to help nurses better understand the meaning of pandemic conditions and how best to respond and (b) supporting nurses to better cope with the additional burdens faced because of increased patient loads. Overall, the nurses in this study were shown to have demonstrated reliance and resilience in the face of COVID-19.

Phylogenomics of the genus Tursiops and closely related Delphininae reveals extensive reticulation among lineages and provides inference about eco-evolutionary drivers.

Phylogeographic inference has provided extensive insight into the relative roles of geographical isolation and ecological processes during evolutionary radiations. However, the importance of cross-lineage admixture in facilitating adaptive radiations is increasingly being recognised, and suggested as a main cause of phylogenetic uncertainty. In this study, we used a double digest RADseq protocol to provide a high resolution (~4 Million bp) nuclear phylogeny of the Delphininae. Phylogenetic resolution of this group has been especially intractable, likely because it has experienced a recent species radiation. We carried out cross-lineage reticulation analyses, and tested for several sources of potential bias in determining phylogenies from genome sampling data. We assessed the divergence time and historical demography of T. truncatus and T. aduncus by sequencing the T. aduncus genome and comparing it with the T. truncatus reference genome. Our results suggest monophyly for the genus Tursiops, with the recently proposed T. australis species falling within the T. aduncus lineage. We also show the presence of extensive cross-lineage gene flow between pelagic and European coastal ecotypes of T. truncatus, as well as in the early stages of diversification between spotted (Stenella frontalis; Stenella attenuata), spinner (Stenella longirostris), striped (Stenella coeruleoalba), common (Delphinus delphis), and Fraser's (Lagenodelphis hosei) dolphins. Our study suggests that cross-lineage gene flow in this group has been more extensive and complex than previously thought. In the context of biogeography and local habitat dependence, these results improve our understanding of the evolutionary processes determining the history of this lineage.