Holding mid-shift huddles helped nurses stay informed about hospital-wide and unit-wide updates and allowed staff to specific concerns and ask questions. Photo: James Derek Dwyer / Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
It is common knowledge that nurses are facing ongoing pressure and challenges resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, and this case doesn’t look like resolving any time soon. While we all know that staffing shortages are an enormous issue that must be addressed, hospitals also have to adopt strategies within the here and now to alleviate a few of these stressors. ALL has recently published several articles detailing the creation and use of such strategies.
One of such articles: “Supporting frontline staff during the Covid-19 pandemic” can be read in the September issue. In this article, nurse leaders from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston describe the challenges nursing staff faced during the surge in Covid-19 cases in spring 2020 and the actions taken to support them.
Here are some lessons for supporting direct care nurses based on their initiative:
- Prepare nursing staff for transition to previous positions by providing standardized education and clear expectations.
- Check in with relocated staff often to cut back feelings of isolation and ease anxiety.
- When a nurse is transferred, if possible, they need to remain on the identical unit in order that they’ll establish contact with the staff there.
- Hold mid-shift huddles to tell staff of changes and debrief sessions to make sure they receive moral and psychological support.
- Include other disciplines, reminiscent of social work and clergy, to assist employees process emotions.
- Create an area, reminiscent of a “Zen den”, for brief moments of rest in the course of a shift to offer employees the chance to rest and recharge.
Author: Christine Moffa, PhD, APRN, PMHNP-BC, AJN senior clinical editor
