11th EORNA Congress Valencia, Spain | 16 - 18 May 2024 Round Table Sessions 26 139 Moral Distress Among Operating Room Personnel During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study Ami Fagerdahl1, Eva Torbjörnsson2 3, Martina Gustavsson4, Andreas Älgå1 4 1Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Science and Education, Sodersjukhuset, 2Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Science and Education, Sodersjukhuset, Stockholm, 3Södersjukhuset, Perioperative Care and Intensivecare, Stockholm, Sweden, 4Karolinska Institutet, Department of Global Public Health Background: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a reallocation of healthcare resources, and a minimization of elective activities. Healthcare personnel involved in COVID-19 care have been negatively affected by the associated excess stress. The existing COVID-19 research has focused on the experiences among healthcare personnel in general, and not particularly on the operating room team members, who have often been relocated to overburdened workplaces. Objectives: The aim was to explore the OR team members’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This study has a qualitative inductive design based on interviews with a strategic sample of 12 operating room team members: surgeons, anesthesiologist, specialist nurses, and nurse assistants. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Three themes were identified: “Feeling safe in the familiar and anxiety in the unknown”, “To be the ones left behind”, and “The possibility for recuperation in a seemingly everlasting situation”. The participants described working hard, although their efforts were experienced as not enough according to their moral ideals. We interpreted this as feelings and signs of moral distress, a commonly described concept in previous studies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a risk for burn out. Conclusion: The operating room team members emphasized the negative stress of being in the unknown, performing work tasks in an unfamiliar place and situation, and experiencing conflicting feelings of relief and guilt. Organizational strategies toward a functional leadership and support should be emphasized. Such strategies might reduce the risk of psychological consequences such as burn out. 212 The Impact of Operating Room Nurses’ Stress Levels on Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors in the Covid-19 Pandemic Zeliha Kalın1, Nuray Akyüz1 1İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa, Institute of Graduate Studies, Istanbul, Turkey Background: The Covid-19 pandemic in Turkey, with over 15 million reported cases, has led to changes in nurses’ working schedules, increased workloads, and restrictions on leave and resignation. Understanding nurses’ challenges during the Covid-19 process is crucial for future pandemic preparedness. Objectives: This descriptive study aimed to determine the stress levels and assess the impact on healthy lifestyle behaviors among operating room nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were collected between August 2021 and February 2022. The study population was 198,465 nurses in active practice in Turkey. The sample group was reached online using the snowball method after obtaining the necessary permissions for the study. The sample included 347 operating room nurses involved in pandemic duties. Data were collected using the “Individual Characteristics Form,” the “Perceived Stress Scale,” and the “Health-Promoting Lifestyle Behaviors Scale II.” Statistical analyses included descriptive methods, t-test, ANOVA, Tukey test, Pearson correlation, and Multiple Linear Regression (p<0.05). Results: Among participants, 56.5% were aged 30 or below, 79.8% were female, and 72.3% had a bachelor’s degree. During the pandemic, nurses worked an average of 47.22±8.23 hours per week, with 68% rotating to other departments. Additionally, 84.7% participated in surgeries for Covid-19 positive patients, and 42.9% contracted Covid-19. Nurses had a mean perceived stress score of 30.33±5.71 and a mean health-promoting lifestyle score of 123.33±20.08. Negative correlations were found between perceived stress and health-promoting lifestyle scores (r=-0.169; p=0.002). Age, education level, and working in specific units were identified as factors influencing healthy lifestyle behaviors. Conclusion: As nurses’ perceived stress levels increased during the pandemic, their engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviors decreased. Higher education levels were associated with better health-promoting behaviors, while working in public hospitals increased perceived stress levels. Increased physical activity, along with years of professional experience, decreased nurses’ perceived stress levels.
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