"Feeling Like an Island": Perceptions of Professional Isolation Among Emergency Nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Healthcare Management
• Global Health

Background:

• Professional isolation is a significant challenge in the labor market, particularly affecting emergency nurses in low-resource healthcare settings.
• This isolation stems from a lack of professional interaction, mentoring, collaboration, and development opportunities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the perceptions of professional isolation among emergency nurses.
• To understand the contributing factors to this isolation in a low-resource environment.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative content analysis of individual interviews.
• 13 emergency nurses from 5 different settings in Lesotho participated.

Main Results:

• An overarching theme of "feeling like an island" emerged.
• Key contributing categories identified were: lack of interprofessional collaboration and consultation, skills mismatch, and enforced loneliness.

Conclusions:

• Lack of interprofessional collaboration, skills mismatch, and enforced loneliness significantly influence professional isolation in emergency nurses in low-resource settings.
• Communities of practice show potential as an intervention to address professional isolation among these nurses.