Healthcare worker resilience during the COVID‐19 pandemic: An integrative review

Baskin, Rachel G.; Bartlett, Robin

AIM: The purpose of this review was to examine resilience among healthcare workers during the coronavirus‐disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. BACKGROUND: The COVID‐19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented strain on healthcare workers internationally. Rising infection rates, inadequate personal protective equipment, and the lack of availability of hospital beds has resulted in further deterioration of the already‐fragile mental health of healthcare workers. Resilient workers have lower rates of burnout and improved patient outcomes. EVALUATION: PubMed and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases were searched using the terms resilience, nurse and COVID‐19 to identify studies on resilience during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Results were organized by outcome measures for comparison. KEY ISSUES: Resilience scores among frontline healthcare workers worldwide during the COVID‐19 pandemic in the studies reviewed were overall found to be in the moderate range. Data from the United States showed a decrease in nurse resilience, whereas participants from China had increased resilience compared with pre‐pandemic levels. CONCLUSIONS: Building resilience in nurses and other healthcare workers can serve as a protective factor against negative outcomes related to the job, including burnout, anxiety and depression, and can improve patient outcomes. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Strategies for building resilience in healthcare workers are discussed.