Stress management protocol for nurses working in the COVID-19 wards

Purpose: Due to necessity of immediate support strategies for nurses during COVID-19 pandemic and lack of comprehensive and applied standard guidelines, the present study was conducted to develop stress management protocol for nurses working in COVID-19 wards with an approach based on the best scientific evidences.Methods: This descriptive methodological and validation study was conducted with evidence based approach based on Stetler model in two hospitals of Iran in 2020. In order to identify the resources of stress and the solutions provided to deal with it to design the protocol, a comprehensive literature review was performed. After extracting evidence, they were ranked based on the levels of evidence and designed as a protocol. Quality appraisal of guideline was done using AGREEII instrument by an expert panel. The applicability of the protocol was assessed by a group of nurses through focus group discussion.Results: Out of 184 studies, 28 articles related to the topic were selected. According to the expert panel, in the AGREEII domains, Scope and Purpose (87.5%) and Applicability (70.5%) were the highest and the lowest scores respectively. The Stress Management Protocol for Nurses Working in COVID-19 Wards was designed in six sections, which was elaborated relative to each stress resources. Members of the focus group mostly considered the evidence-based recommendations feasible by making suggestions to some items.Conclusion: This study emphasized the important role of proper planning by health care system officials according to the designed protocol to manage stress and increase the self-efficacy of nurses in critical situations.

Automated summary

This study aimed to develop a stress management protocol for nurses working in COVID-19 wards based on the best scientific evidence, due to the necessity of immediate support strategies and lack of comprehensive guidelines. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify stress resources and solutions, and a protocol was designed based on the levels of evidence. The protocol was assessed by an expert panel and a group of nurses through focus group discussion.