Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Acute Care Nurses: An Integrative Review

To analyse, critique, and synthesise available research to create a unique framework of the impacts of COVID-19 on acute care nurses.

Whittemore and Knafl's framework was used to organise this review. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used for quality analysis.

CINAHL, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus and the National Institute of Health COVID-19 database were searched.

Twenty-five articles were included. Impacts on acute care nurses came from changes, access to resources, interrupted relationships, and the virus itself. The outcomes from nurses were categorised as positive, physical, emotional responses, leaving and mental disorders. These outcomes were mediated by making connections, coping, learning and experience, and finding meaning.

Nurses working in acute care during COVID-19 were faced with immense stressors in a tumultuous and dangerous time. The vastly negative outcomes were less surprising than the fact nurses were left to find mitigating factors on their own. Given the large attrition from nursing that occurred and is still occurring, health systems that can both lessen the impacts and strengthen the buffering effects of mediating factors may fare better when the next pandemic comes.

Lessons learned can be used to prepare for future pandemics. Nurses should be at the forefront of all planning whether through education, policy, or research. Having a framework allows for a more comprehensive understanding and provides an underpinning for future action. The possibility for impact spans nurses across the globe who have worked, and who may work, during a pandemic. This framework provides a basis for changes related to pandemic planning throughout nursing domains.

The researcher has adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement. No Patient or Public Contribution.