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COVID-19 and job demands and resources experienced by nurses in Sri Lanka

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Shalini Dananja Wanninayake ,
Michael O’Donnell  and
Sue Williamson
Shalini Dananja Wanninayake
Affiliation:
University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Michael O’Donnell*
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales Canberra, Canberra, Australia
Sue Williamson
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales Canberra, Canberra, Australia
*
Michael O’Donnell, School of Business, UNSW Canberra, PO Box 7916, Canberra, BC 2610, Australia. Email: m.odonnell@adfa.edu.au
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Abstract

Sri Lanka has a history of successfully managing communicable diseases by utilising its extensive public healthcare network of community clinics and public hospitals. This article makes use of Job Demands-Resources theory (JD-R) to examine the impact of COVID-19 on nurses’ working conditions in public and private hospitals in Sri Lanka. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses’ job demands on public hospital wards included long working hours, limited workplace autonomy, minimal medical resources and high workloads caused by understaffing. Private hospital nurses experienced pressure from patients and their families to provide them with discounts on medical bills. Nurses allocated to work on COVID-19 wards experienced additional physical job demands from wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) for lengthy periods on hospital wards in a humid climate. Nurses on COVID-19 wards also experienced increased anxiety that they could transmit the disease to family members. While nurses experienced job resources such as social support from nursing supervisors and other nurses, they reported receiving minimal training in the provision of healthcare to COVID-19 patients. This combination of high job demands and low job resources increased the levels of exhaustion and mental distress experienced by many nurses working on COVID-19 hospital wards.

Keywords

COVID-19healthcarenursesjob demandsjob resourcesSri LankaH51H54J24J45O15
Type
Themed collection: Public sector employment relations in turbulent times
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 100 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2022

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