International nursing review
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As we approach the seventh month of the latest pandemic to wreak havoc and death across all societies, it beggars belief that many world and national leaders have acted surprised at the speed and destructive efficiency of COVID-19. Nurses are not surprised by the level of misery and devastation that infectious diseases can cause. We have seen it all before. ⋯ Data collection on this is haphazard at best, with nurse deaths absorbed within the aggregated morbidity data reported on during pandemics. This is despite nurses being the prominent professional workforce providing crucial front-line interventions to protect public health. It is time nurses involved themselves with the overdue reformation of public health policies, information management and health systems that would seek to return nurses to precarious work environments and trivialize foreseeable risks to us, our communities and patients.
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To explore the health beliefs of clinical and academic nurses from Japan, Australia and China regarding wearing paper masks to protect themselves and others, and to identify differences in participants' health beliefs regarding masks. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked much discussion about the critical importance of masks for the safety of health professionals, and there has been considerable discussion and disagreement about health policies regarding mask use by the general public. Improper use of masks may have a role in creating mask shortages or transmitting infections. An evidence-based global policy on mask use for respiratory illnesses for health professionals, including nurses, and the general public needs to be adopted and supported by a wide-reaching education campaign.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is currently the dominant public health topic across every nation. The world of health care is shrouded in the haze of the COVID-19 pandemic and is experiencing unprecedented patient loads arising from this complicated and unfamiliar viral disease. No one was prepared for this. ⋯ Nurses are at the front line of every nation's response, trying to provide assessment, protection, treatment and prevention as being part of the overwhelming care demand that is occurring. Across every nation, the ongoing policy implications of the pandemic should be considered, as well as for those pandemics in the future. This includes, but is not limited to, investing in emergency systems and nurses, health research, and preparing for, managing and researching nursing practice.
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The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of depressive symptoms and professional quality of life on turnover intention. ⋯ Hospital managers need to maintain adequate nurse-to-patient ratios and provide nurses with a supportive work environment. Also, health policymakers need to identify factors affecting hospital nurses' turnover intention and provide strategies to address them. These conditions may reduce the excessive workload placed on nurses, thereby preventing depression and burnout and improving nurses' quality of work-life.
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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to expand worldwide, Taiwan has effectively contained the spread domestically and protected its citizens after registering its first case relatively early on 21 January 2020. Proactive preparedness and deployment by the national government, timely evidence and experience-based judgements and decision-making, information transparency, rapid response, and effective communication and measures have all been critical to combating COVID-19 in Taiwan. ⋯ The implications for nursing and health policy are that we need to well prepare for any unpredicted emerging pandemic in the future. Providing adequate personal protective equipment and safe staffing should be the highest priority for the governments and policymakers around the world to combat pandemic successfully.