Impact of COVID-19 on Telephone-Triage Nurses' Emotional Well-Being: A Qualitative Study

To describe telephone-triage nurses' perceptions of their well-being and the system factors that influenced their well-being while conducting telephone-triage for COVID-19 during the pandemic.

This descriptive, qualitative study applied both inductive and deductive analysis to generate themes.

We interviewed a convenience sample of 27 nurses from two health systems about their perceptions of well-being when triaging patient calls about COVID-19 and reasons for those perceptions. Data collection occurred between November 2020 and June 2021. Themes were organised using the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine framework.

Telephone-triage nurses' well-being was significantly impacted by COVID-19. Uncertainty regarding evolving COVID-19 guidance, increased call volumes and difficult patient responses were some of the key work system challenges that impacted nurses' well-being.

Our findings suggest the need to revisit work system factors that impact the well-being of telephone-triage nurses and develop organisational interventions to support nurses to provide optimal care during crisis situations.

Organisational information infrastructure should be bolstered for future pandemic responses to minimise impacts on nurses' well-being. Additionally, leaders need to realign tasks, workflows and workload of telephone triage during pandemic surges to prevent excessive demands on nurses.

This work contributes to understanding telephone-triage nurses' well-being during COVID-19. The increased demands they faced and impact on their well-being point to opportunities for organisational well-being interventions and development of crisis standards for tele-triaging to support nurses during high-stress, crisis situations.

The authors have adhered to COREQ guidelines for reporting.

No patient or public contribution.