Professional Nurses’ Experiences of Safety Participation During the Crisis of Covid – 19 Pandemic, Hat Yai Hospital, Thailand

Abstract

         The main objectives of this research were to describe the meaning and experiences of safety participation of professional nurses at Hatyai Hospital during the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic. The research was conducted using Husserl’s qualitative phenomenological approach. The participants included 14 professional nurses working in the care unit of at-risk and COVID-19 patients. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi's method. The findings were as follows: For the meaning of safety participation during the COVID-19 pandemic 2 themes emerged: 1) Cooperating to provide safety for ourselves, patients, colleagues and communities; and 2) Dedication, sacrifice and responsibility to overcome the pandemic crisis. For the experiences of safety participation during the COVID-19 pandemic 7 themes emerged: 1) Turn panic into awareness; 2) Adjust fear to courage to take care of the patient by strictly adhered to the anti-infection guidelines;  3) Co - think, co - plan in advance to reduce the risk; 4) Get knowledge and practice skills often for fluency when doing real work; 5) Use resources wisely – for sufficiency in the future; 6) Encourage colleagues to be prepared for any risk situation; and 7) Talk and advise other people to protect themselves and their communities. This research can be used as a basic guideline for fostering safety participation. In addition, it can be used for crisis management planning to deal with the epidemic crisis of emerging infectious diseases, as well as for other quality improvement issues to be effective and sustainable.