Experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: A longitudinal qualitative interview study.
<h4>Objective</h4>To identify the experiences and concerns of health workers (HWs), and how they changed, throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.<h4>Methods</h4>Longitudinal, qualitative study with HWs involved in patient management or delivery of care r...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0264906&type=printable |
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| author | Aleksandra J Borek Caitlin Pilbeam Hayley Mableson Marta Wanat Paul Atkinson Sally Sheard Anne-Marie Martindale Tom Solomon Christopher C Butler Nina Gobat Sarah Tonkin-Crine |
| author_facet | Aleksandra J Borek Caitlin Pilbeam Hayley Mableson Marta Wanat Paul Atkinson Sally Sheard Anne-Marie Martindale Tom Solomon Christopher C Butler Nina Gobat Sarah Tonkin-Crine |
| author_sort | Aleksandra J Borek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Objective</h4>To identify the experiences and concerns of health workers (HWs), and how they changed, throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.<h4>Methods</h4>Longitudinal, qualitative study with HWs involved in patient management or delivery of care related to COVID-19 in general practice, emergency departments and hospitals. Participants were identified through snowballing. Semi-structured telephone or video interviews were conducted between February 2020 and February 2021, audio-recorded, summarised, and transcribed. Data were analysed longitudinally using framework and thematic analysis.<h4>Results</h4>We conducted 105 interviews with 14 participants and identified three phases corresponding with shifts in HWs' experiences and concerns. (1) Emergency and mobilisation phase (late winter-spring 2020), with significant rapid shifts in responsibilities, required skills, and training, and challenges in patient care. (2) Consolidation and preparation phase (summer-autumn 2020), involving gradual return to usual care and responsibilities, sense of professional development and improvement in care, and focus on learning and preparing for future. (3) Exhaustion and survival phase (autumn 2020-winter 2021), entailing return of changes in responsibilities, focus on balancing COVID-19 and non-COVID care (until becoming overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases), and concerns about longer-term impacts of unceasing pressure on health services. Participants' perceptions of COVID-19 risk and patient/public attitudes changed throughout the year, and tiredness and weariness turned into exhaustion.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Results showed a long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UK HWs' experiences and concerns related to changes in their roles, provision of care, and personal wellbeing. Despite mobilisation in the emergency phase, and trying to learn from this, HWs' experiences seemed to be similar or worse in the second wave partly due to many COVID-19 cases. The findings highlight the importance of supporting HWs and strengthening system-level resilience (e.g., with resources, processes) to enable them to respond to current and future demands and emergencies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e5f40fed59bf4a7cab8235282f8941e3 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
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| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-e5f40fed59bf4a7cab8235282f8941e32025-08-20T02:22:21ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01173e026490610.1371/journal.pone.0264906Experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: A longitudinal qualitative interview study.Aleksandra J BorekCaitlin PilbeamHayley MablesonMarta WanatPaul AtkinsonSally SheardAnne-Marie MartindaleTom SolomonChristopher C ButlerNina GobatSarah Tonkin-Crine<h4>Objective</h4>To identify the experiences and concerns of health workers (HWs), and how they changed, throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.<h4>Methods</h4>Longitudinal, qualitative study with HWs involved in patient management or delivery of care related to COVID-19 in general practice, emergency departments and hospitals. Participants were identified through snowballing. Semi-structured telephone or video interviews were conducted between February 2020 and February 2021, audio-recorded, summarised, and transcribed. Data were analysed longitudinally using framework and thematic analysis.<h4>Results</h4>We conducted 105 interviews with 14 participants and identified three phases corresponding with shifts in HWs' experiences and concerns. (1) Emergency and mobilisation phase (late winter-spring 2020), with significant rapid shifts in responsibilities, required skills, and training, and challenges in patient care. (2) Consolidation and preparation phase (summer-autumn 2020), involving gradual return to usual care and responsibilities, sense of professional development and improvement in care, and focus on learning and preparing for future. (3) Exhaustion and survival phase (autumn 2020-winter 2021), entailing return of changes in responsibilities, focus on balancing COVID-19 and non-COVID care (until becoming overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases), and concerns about longer-term impacts of unceasing pressure on health services. Participants' perceptions of COVID-19 risk and patient/public attitudes changed throughout the year, and tiredness and weariness turned into exhaustion.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Results showed a long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on UK HWs' experiences and concerns related to changes in their roles, provision of care, and personal wellbeing. Despite mobilisation in the emergency phase, and trying to learn from this, HWs' experiences seemed to be similar or worse in the second wave partly due to many COVID-19 cases. The findings highlight the importance of supporting HWs and strengthening system-level resilience (e.g., with resources, processes) to enable them to respond to current and future demands and emergencies.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0264906&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Aleksandra J Borek Caitlin Pilbeam Hayley Mableson Marta Wanat Paul Atkinson Sally Sheard Anne-Marie Martindale Tom Solomon Christopher C Butler Nina Gobat Sarah Tonkin-Crine Experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: A longitudinal qualitative interview study. PLoS ONE |
| title | Experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: A longitudinal qualitative interview study. |
| title_full | Experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: A longitudinal qualitative interview study. |
| title_fullStr | Experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: A longitudinal qualitative interview study. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: A longitudinal qualitative interview study. |
| title_short | Experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: A longitudinal qualitative interview study. |
| title_sort | experiences and concerns of health workers throughout the first year of the covid 19 pandemic in the uk a longitudinal qualitative interview study |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0264906&type=printable |
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