Dunning, A., Hartley, H., Unsworth, K. orcid.org/0000-0002-0826-7565 et al. (6 more authors) (2024) Nurses’ experiences and sense making of COVID-19 redeployment and the impact on well-being, performance, and turnover intentions: A longitudinal multimethod study. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, 7. 100244. ISSN 2666-142X
Abstract
Background
During Covid-19 nurses were redeployed to new teams and specialties at a level never previously experienced. Little is known about how nurses made sense of and coped with this situation and what we can learn from this for future redeployment approaches.
Objectives
We sought to understand how nurses made sense of ongoing redeployment during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this related to their psychological distress, burnout, turnover intentions, and perceived performance.
Design
A longitudinal multi-method design. (ISRCTN: 18172749).
Setting(s)
Three acute National Health Service (NHS) Trusts in England, selected for diversity in geographical location and ethnicity, with different COVID-19 contexts.
Participants
Sixty-two nurses (90% female; 83% white) who experienced different types of redeployment during the pandemic, with an average of 17 year's post-registration experience (mean age 41 years).
Methods
We gathered both interview and survey data from 62 nurses across two or three time points in 2020-2021 and sought to find commonalities and differences in patterns of experience using Pen Portrait analysis.
Results
The pandemic redeployment process was life-changing for all nurses, personally and professionally. The research uncovered an intertwined pattern of identity and sensemaking as nurses coped with COVID-19 redeployment. Three sensemaking ‘journeys’ were evident, involving professional identity as a nurse and identification with one's organisation. Nurses in journey one: ‘Organisational Identification and Professional Identity Maintained’ (n=28) had the best outcomes for wellbeing, burnout, performance, and retention. Those experiencing the ‘Devaluation of Organisational Identification But Maintenance of Professional Identity’ journey (n=24) maintained their professional identity, but their organisational identification deteriorated. Journey three nurses: ‘Devaluation of both Organisational Identification and Professional Identity’ (n=10) had the worst outcomes for wellbeing, burnout, performance, and retention. A salient nurse identity triggered stoicism and resilient behaviours while external cues of control, support and contextual awareness affected organisational identification.
Conclusions
Nurses made sense of their experiences of redeployment during Covid-19 differently which, in turn affected their outcomes. Given the stark differences in how nurses perceived their psychological distress, burnout, turnover intentions and performance across the journeys, the importance of understanding the cues (e.g. having autonomy) associated with each journey is apparent. Thus, our research provides clear guidance for managers to help them support nurses during redeployment.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Covid-19; Nurse Redeployment; Nurse Wellbeing; Nurse Staffing; Sensemaking |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Management Division (LUBS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 26 Sep 2024 14:38 |
Last Modified: | 18 Oct 2024 14:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.ijnsa.2024.100244 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:217652 |