Post-traumatic growth experiences of emergency and critical care nurses after the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative meta-synthesis

Abstract

Objective

The previous coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) epidemic inflicted significant psychological trauma on emergency and critical care nurses due to various factors, potentially leading to job burnout. Despite the rise of positive psychology, little is known about the post-traumatic growth experience of these nurses after the pandemic. The aim of this study was to assess the experience of post-traumatic growth among emergency and critical care nurses, in order to provide managerial insights for developing effective strategies and facilitating the transformation of nurses' negative emotions into positive ones.

Design

A qualitative review.

Data sources

PubMed, EBSCO, Medline, Elsvier, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, and Ovid and Chinese databases include the following: Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database (CECDB), VIP Database and China Biomedical Database (CBM).

Review methods

All articles about emergency and critical care nurses’ post-traumatic growth after the COVID-19 pandemic were included after searching and screening 13 databases. The meta-synthesis method was used to integrate and evaluate the included literature in qualitative research. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was used as a basis for reporting the review. The literature was selected and evaluated by two researchers, and then meta-integration was used for analysis.

Results

From a total of 11 articles, 90 main results were presented, eight new categories were integrated, and three themes were formed: stress period, adjustment period and growth period. These three themes include eight sub-themes: negative emotion, psychological gap, self adjusting, social support, improvement of personal ability, increased sense of professional belonging, spiritual awakening and extended thinking, look ahead.

Conclusion

Post-traumatic growth in emergency and critical care nurses is dynamic. Managers should monitor the psychological changes experienced by emergency and critical care nurses following traumatic events, offering targeted support at different stages, providing enhanced professional development opportunities, refining management strategies, guiding nurses in self-adjustment and active coping with trauma, and promoting their physical and mental well-being to ensure a positive mindset for effectively addressing future public health crises.