Effects of Intervention on Ward Staff Dealing with COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

In this study, a certified nurse in infection control (CNIC) provided an intervention to ward staff dealing with COVID-19 patients. We examined ways of understanding infection-control nursing and their effects on psychological stress reduction. A conference was held as an intervention to improve the quality of nursing for long-term hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and consultations and group discussions were held by the CNIC. Pre- and post-intervention, the participants were asked to complete a survey consisting of open-ended questions regarding their understanding of infection-control nursing as well as stress assessment. Open-ended coding was performed on the free-text responses, and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the stress assessment results.

The results indicated that infection ward staffs were anxious about becoming infected while caring for patients in zones designated as "infection areas." Therefore, their behavior within the infection area was evaluated based on the medical staff's exposure risk assessment. Additionally, as a specific nursing practice method, we introduced a rooftop walk for patients accompanied by a nurse and regular environmental checks in the infection area.

Before the intervention, 41.7% of the infection ward staff believed that infection-control nursing "does not include involvement with the patient/entering the infection area; " however, after the intervention, this proportion dropped to 0%. In the stress assessment, 83.3% of the subjects were afraid or anxious about infection before the intervention, but this reduced to 72.7% after the intervention, indicated that those feelings had slightly decreased.

Based on the results, the intervention by the CNIC changed the ward nursing staffs' perception of infection-control nursing, thereby leading to the reduction of stress in nursing.