Unbearable suffering while working as a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative descriptive study

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in negative consequences for nurse well-being, patient care delivery and outcomes, and organizational outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nurses working during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.

This study used a qualitative descriptive design.

The setting for this study was a national sample of nurses working during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States over a period of 18 months.

Convenience and snowball sampling were used to recruit 81 nurses via social media and both national and state listservs.

Using a single question prompt, voicemail and emails were used for nurses to share their experiences anonymously working as a nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic. Voicemails were transcribed and each transcript was analyzed using content analysis with both deductive and inductive coding.

The overarching theme identified was Unbearable Suffering. Three additional themes were identified: 1) Facilitators to Nursing Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2) Barriers to Nursing Practice During the COVID-19 pandemic, with the sub-themes of Barriers Within the Work Environment, Suboptimal Care Delivery, and Negative Consequences for the Nurses; and lastly, 3) the Transitionary Nature of the Pandemic..

The primary finding of this study was that nurses experienced and witnessed unbearable suffering while working during the COVID-19 pandemic that was transitionary in nature. Future research should consider the long-term impacts of this unbearable suffering on nurses. Intervention research should be considered to support nurses who have worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, and mitigate the potential long-term effects.

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