Managing during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A cross‐sectional study of healthcare workers’ perceived organizational support and its consequences on their compassion, resilience, and turnover intention

Abstract

Aim

To evaluate healthcare professionals’ perceived organizational support and its effect on their compassion, resilience, and turnover intention in the United Arab Emirates.

Background

The COVID‐19 pandemic exerted unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems, professionals, and management systems. Healthcare organizations begin to explore their roles and function in relation to risks and resilience, in addition to ascertain what level of organization support they are providing to their workers.

Methods

A cross‐sectional study was conducted with a questionnaire administered to 538 healthcare workers, to examine their personal resources and organizational support during the pandemic.

Results

37.7% of nurses were found to have a moderate level of resilience, and logistic regression showed that being married is a protective factor against resigning from the profession (OR = 0.462, P = 0.012, 95% CI: 0.254–0.842), and healthcare workers who perceived higher organizational support were approximately 50% less likely to have a turnover intention (OR = 0.506, P = 0.009, 95% CI: 0.303–0.845). Multiple linear regression model indicated significantly higher resilience among physicians (β = 0.12, P < 0.05) and allied healthcare practitioners (β = 0.12, P = 0.022). Organizational support had a significant positive relationship with resilience scores (β =0.20, P <.001); adequate training was significantly related to higher compassion levels (β = 0.11, P < 0.05); and high organizational support scores were associated with increased compassion scores (β = 0.27, P <.001).

Conclusions

Front‐line healthcare workers reported moderate organizational support during the pandemic, commensurately reflected in moderate levels of personal resilience and self‐compassion. Continued and better support is vital for employee sustainability and the increased health system performance, including quality of care and patient outcomes.

Implications for nursing management

Nurse managers should help healthcare workers improve self‐care strategies by strengthening personal resources, including by shortened duty hours, offering adequate break time, providing a safe work climate, and purveying adequate personal protective equipment and supplies to combat infections. They should build an empathetic work environment through understanding the needs of staff, helping tackle their work stress and sustaining cultures of compassion through promoting rewarding and flexibility strategies. Moreover, policymakers and nurse mangers should create a rewarding culture for nurses and other healthcare workers to increase their commitment to their jobs.