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An exploratory qualitative study describing frontline nurses’ experiences with Presenteeism due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

C. Laranjeira  and
A. Querido
C. Laranjeira
Affiliation:
Polytechnic of Leiria, School Of Health Sciences/ Citechcare, Leiria, Portugal
A. Querido*
Affiliation:
Polytechnic of Leiria, School Of Health Sciences/ Citechcare, Leiria, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic will have a long-lasting impact on healthcare workplaces and professionals alike. For that reason, it is necessary more knowledge and insights about sickness presenteeism behaviour to provide appropriate occupational health services for all healthcare workers affected directly and indirectly by this pandemic.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to explore and describe presenteeism experiences among frontline nurses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A qualitative thematic analysis was used to evaluate the perceptions of frontline nurses from different Portuguese hospital institutions joined in two Focus Groups. Using convenience sampling a total of 20 RNs participated in interviews. No restriction was given to their gender, age, career, and wards in charge so as to obtain diverse data on nurses’ experiences of presenteeism.

Results

The sample mean age was 36 years [range 25 - 42 years]; they had a clinical career of 12 years on average [range 2 - 20 years]. The major theme was the metaphor of “the rotten orange”. This theme implied the presence of a phenomenon that is invisible due to the ignorance of many, but which spreads through the members of a team, leading to an overload of its members for lack of one compassionate leadership. Consequently, leads to loss of the nursing spirit and nursing manpower.

Conclusions

Our findings point to the development of workplace interventions targets to reduce healthcare worker presenteeism and to help employers foster a ‘healthier’ sickness culture during the pandemic and beyond.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

PandemicsWorkplaceNursespresenteeism
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S520
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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