A Norwegian study on views and experiences of health care personnel working in intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Summary study A national retrospective/prospective cohort study of all health care professionals (nurses, medical doctors, leaders) working at intensive care units (ICU) and ICU cohorts’ units during COVID-19 pandemic in Norwegian hospitals. A survey with repeated measure times will cover views and experiences in all phases of the pandemic: I. Planning of COVID-19 ICU units, II. The first patients in COVID-19 ICU units, III: COVID-19 ICU units during the pandemic, IV: COVID-19 ICU units during the pandemic top and finally V: views and experiences of all health care professionals shortly after the pandemic, VI: six months and VII: twelve months follow-up after the pandemic. Themes to be covered in the survey are organization, information, communication across disciplines, education, practical implementation, use of personal protective equipment, daily working conditions and psychosocial aspects.
A few of the informants (medical doctors, nurses) participating in the cohort study will randomly (computerized) be asked to participate in focus groups to get a deeper understanding of the experiences of the health care professionals during the pandemic and after the pandemic when they are back to a normal working condition. Leaders at the randomized hospitals will be asked to participate in individualized interviews. The gained knowledge from both the survey, the focus group interviews and individual interviews in this study may guide hospital directors and the government in follow up of health care professionals and to prepare for a later pandemic.
Steering committee:
Irene Lie, CCN, PhD, Project leader. Division of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Diseases, Oslo University Hospital
Siv Stafseth, CCN, PhD, Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Oslo University Hospital
Johan Ræder, MD, PhD, Professor II, Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Oslo University Hospital/University of Oslo
Øivind Ekeberg (psychiatrist, professor emeritus). Division of Mental Health & Addiction, Oslo University Hospital
The research group also consists of:
Ingvild Strand Hovland (Senior consultant psychiatrist), Department of Acute Medicine, Oslo University Hospital
Laila Skogstad (RN, Associate Professor), the Arctic University of Norway (UiT)
Erlend Hem (MD, PhD, Professor), Department of Behavioural Medicine, University of Oslo, and head of Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession (LEFO)
Haakon Hovde (Critical Care Nurse, MNSc), User representative, the Norwegian Nurses Association for Critical Care Nurses
Type of study: Multicenter cohort and focus group interview study
Ethics approval: REK-id 136144. Approved by Data Protection Officer at Oslo University Hospital 20/09438
Data collection: completed
Links:
CRISTIN: Helsepersonells erfaringer med COVID-19 pasienter på intensivavdelinger i Norge
ClinicalTrials.gov: The COVID-ICU Healthcare Professional Study
Project leader: