Mental health support home nurses need to help recover from Covid trauma

Those on the frontline of the Covid pandemic need mental health support to help them recover from or cope with the stress and trauma they have faced – according to University of East Anglia research .

A new report published today examines the impact of the pandemic on nurses working in nursing homes.

It shows how care home nurses were not prepared for the situation they found themselves in and that this affected their mental health and wellbeing.

The research team says these frontline workers need a mental health and well-being strategy to help recover from the symptoms of trauma and emotional stress they’ve faced during the pandemic.

Our work shows that nursing home care was completely unprepared for the emergency situation they found themselves in during the Covid-19 pandemic and that this has affected their mental health and well-being.

They had to deal with a highly infectious new disease associated with high mortality in residents already living with complex clinical conditions.

They did this alongside staff shortages, ever-changing and conflicting guidelines, and minimal outside professional support.

Health and social care staff are still recovering. They need time to recover from everything that happened during the pandemic and many will need mental health counseling and support for some time.

Supporting home nurses to recover from the pandemic is essential to maintaining a healthy and stable workforce.”

Diane Bunn, Lead researcher, UEA School of Health Sciences

The research team conducted in-depth interviews with care home nurses about their experiences of the pandemic in care homes in England and Scotland. They particularly focused on nurses’ resilience and mental well-being.

“All the nurses we spoke to described being attentive to the needs of others but less attentive to their own needs, which comes at a personal cost,” Bunn said.

“There are many lessons to be learned to support their recovery and ensure that appropriate preparedness policies are in place for the next pandemic,” she added.

The study highlights a set of strategies to help nurses accept and recover from their experiences, as well as suggestions for how to better prepare for future pandemics. They include:

• A bespoke mental health and wellbeing strategy for home nurses in the current pandemic recovery period and ensuring this continues and adapts to future pandemics and disasters.
• Wider professional and government recognition of the specialist skills required by home nurses.
• Review guidelines to better prepare for any future pandemics and nursing home disasters
• Involvement of care home nurses in developing care home disaster response policies.
• Guideline consistency and research-based methods for effective guideline communication.

“Support for home nurses is likely to benefit other home workers either directly through wider implementation or indirectly through improved well-being of nurse leaders,” Bunn added.

This work was led by the University of East Anglia in collaboration with researchers from the University of Leicester. It was funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).