BMC Nursing · 5 authors, 5 centres
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This exploratory qualitative study used focus group discussions with 21 purposively sampled nurses at Mulago National Referral Hospital to examine their experiences managing COVID-19 patients. Nurses reported work burnout, social isolation, and psychological stress but were motivated by interprofessional collaboration, financial incentives, government recognition, and PPE provision, while gaining new knowledge in pandemic care.
Data were analyzed using thematic analysis, yielding six themes covering motivation, roles, workload, personal health and relationships, institutional support, and professional development. Nurses reported performing tasks including drug and oxygen administration, nutritional care, vital sign monitoring, and psychological support. They experienced work burnout, social isolation, stress, and psychological trauma, exacerbated by a nurse-patient ratio of approximately 1:5 in the ICU, well above the WHO-recommended 1:2. Key motivators included interprofessional collaboration, financial incentives, government recognition of nurses as essential workers, and provision of PPE. Most nurses reported gaining new skills in pandemic and highly infectious disease management. Limitations include potential recall and acquiescence bias inherent to qualitative designs, and single-site data from one hospital, though triangulation across varying levels of professional seniority strengthened the findings.
