- Project number: F 2541
- Institution: Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
- Status: Ongoing Project
- Planned end: 2024-12-31
Description:
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has exacerbated the already critical burden on nurses and highlighted deficiencies in nurses’ work design. Studies report they faced dramatically changing demands - for instance due to more extensive hygiene measures or when interacting with relatives -, as well as increased work intensity generally. In light of the duty of care incumbent upon employers, the question arises as to which measures or strategies can mitigate the negative health consequences of this burden on employees. This formed the starting point for the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, BAuA) research project on work organisation as a part of pandemic management in hospitals and residential care facilities that was launched in January 2022. The intention is to expand the knowledge base on healthy work design under crisis conditions and in this way help improve nurses’ working conditions. This means the project ties in directly with the occupational safety and health activities currently being undertaken by other stakeholders, such as the National Prevention Conference (Nationale Präventionskonferenz, NPC) and the Council of the Working World (Rat der Arbeitswelt, RdA), which are calling for more concerted societal cooperation on “health promotion and prevention in nursing and care” (NPC) and the “structural strengthening of occupational health and safety in professional nursing and care” (RdA).
Recent results
The initial phase of the project identified challenges associated with the pandemic, as well as strategies and measures that had been adopted by hospitals and residential care facilities. This was done on the basis of literature analyses, a mixed methods study that drew on retrospective qualitative interviews, and a quantitative survey of management and nursing personnel. The systematic review covered twelve international intervention studies on work organisation measures in hospitals and zero in long-term care settings, showing that it had mainly been the effects of secondary preventive measures that had been investigated up to this point. A significant proportion of these studies demonstrated that the ergonomic organisation of rest breaks could be helpful where it was not possible to modify the primary stressors generated by the pandemic. The results of an interview study conducted with fifty-three managers from seventeen hospitals and residential care facilities in Saxony and Bavaria give first insights into the priorities addressed by the work organisation measures that were taken. According to the study, measures relating to “work schedule planning” and “occupational safety and health” were implemented most frequently. They represented responses to some of the challenges that have been reported, including “staffing shortages”, “staff absences”, and the pandemic-specific demands for hygiene protocols.
Ongoing activities
The object of the ongoing employee survey is to identify the impacts of measures on nurses’ work and well-being, including perceptions of the burden associated with mask-wearing. Knowledge about crisis management in other sectors, generalisable findings on the options for work organisation in pandemic and crisis management, and ways of designing work to minimise stress levels at inpatient nursing/residential care facilities were discussed during two scenario workshops in July and August 2024, which were attended by a total of about forty experts from nursing science, practice, and crisis management from other industries. The findings will soon be made available on this website.