Nurse experience during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for nurse leaders

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses have been the provider with the most prolonged face-to-face contact with patients and associated exposure to patient suffering and viral transmission.1 Nurses have experienced practice changes, fear for themselves and their families, and moral distress from the inability to provide optimal care.2-4 Throughout this time, it has been important for nurse leaders to provide the needed support to nurses. Leadership embodies three areas: leading the self, leading others, and leading the organization.5 During the pandemic, leaders have been responsible for decisions affecting both patients and staff. One important role of a nurse leader is understanding the needs of nursing staff.6 Balancing the needs of the staff and patients while considering quality metrics, data, and finances has been a challenge during the pandemic. Providing staff support fosters a positive workplace culture that results in increased patient satisfaction and staff wellbeing. 7 With the exhaustion of resources, nurse leaders need to use the wisdom of clinical nurses in decision-making to preserve trusting relationships. During a crisis, decisionmaking tends to be more authoritarian, and the goals of person- centered care are difficult to maintain.8 Social media and the sensationalism of the pandemic have added to the crisis and called for nurse leaders to understand the needs of clinical nurses.