Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: A secondary thematic analysis of nurse managers' experiences

The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted mental health and increased burnout in frontline nurses, but the impact on nurse leaders has been poorly explored. Examining nurse leaders' experiences during the pandemic is crucial to identify factors that affected their professional roles and well-being.

To address this gap, secondary data from a national cross-sectional descriptive mixed-methods study were thematically analyzed to explore nurse leaders' perceptions of their experiences during the pandemic.

Two primary themes emerged from content analysis of 114 nurse leaders' open-ended responses to four questions investigating the pandemic's impact on professional nursing and well-being: (1) from heroes to zeroes, and (2) should I stay, or should I go? Theme 1 comprised three subthemes: (a) burnout and moral distress; (b) workplace challenges; and (c) transformation of health care and community. Theme 2 also comprised three subthemes: (a) passion for the nursing profession; (b) competing motivations; and (c) work-life balance.

This study uniquely identified the significant mental and emotional toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on nurse leaders, providing an understudied perspective on their experiences of trauma, burnout, and hopelessness. Recommendations for future studies include exploring moral distress among nursing leadership and developing a measure of moral distress for nurse leaders.