Experiences of nurse practitioners working during the COVID-19 pandemic: A metasynthesis of qualitative studies

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic forced global changes to how nurses practice. Nurse practitioners adjusted their scope, changed how they delivered their service, and worked with limited resources. For some services, patient access was also compromised. Objectives: To synthesize, combine, and present current evidence on the experiences of nurse practitioners working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data sources: CINAHL, Embase, and MEDLINE electronic databases were used to perform a structured search strategy. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, health care services had to leverage their workforce skills to accelerate COVID-19 identification, treatment, and care. Nurse practitioners rapidly found themselves at the forefront and were concerned about infecting others. They also identified the need for support and were able to adapt to the changing environment. Nurse practitioners also recognized the impact on their well-being. Having insight into nurse practitioner's experiences during the pandemic is valuable for future health care workforce planning. Understanding how they coped will help with critical preparedness and response actions to other health care crises. Implications for practice: Having insight into nurse practitioner's experiences during the pandemic is valuable for future health care workforce planning because, as we know, the nurse practitioner workforce is one of the most rapidly growing professions in primary health care. Any future work in this space will help inform future nurse practitioner education and also help by informing critical preparedness and response actions to future health care crises, whether global or local or clinical or nonclinical.