Nurses’ practice environment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Descriptive, survey-type study conducted in an accredited hospital located in the city of São Paulo – SP. Nurses were invited to answer the Brazilian version of the Practice Environment Scale instrument in two moments: ten months before the pandemic (Group 1) and six months after the start of care for patients with COVID-19 (Group 2). A significance level of p≤0.05 was adopted and the Mann-Whitney non-parametric hypothesis test was used to compare two unpaired groups.

Results

Group 1 consisted of 55 nurses and Group 2 of 53. All subscales had means above 2.5, ranging from 2.8 to 3.3 in Group 1 and 3.0 to 3.4 in Group 2. The subscales Nurse manager ability, leadership and support to nurses; Staffing and resource adequacy; and Collegial nurse-physician relations were better evaluated in the pandemic period, with statistically significant differences (p = 0.05; 0.04 and 0.04, respectively).

Conclusion

Although nurse’s professional practice environment was classified as favorable at both times, results were better during the pandemic.

Working environment; Health facility environment; COVID-19; Pandemics

Subescalas	Group 1			Group 2			p-value
Subescalas	AM^†	SD^‡	Median	AM^†	SD^‡	Median	p-value
1. Nurse participation in hospital affairs	3.2	0.5	3.2	3.4	0.5	3.4	0.05^§
2. Nursing foundations for quality of care	3.3	0.4	3.3	3.4	0.4	3.4	0.27^§
3. Nurse manager ability, leadership and support of nurses	3.3	0.6	3.4	3.4	0.5	3.6	0.07^§
4. Staffing and resource adequacy	2.8	0.6	3	3.0	0.6	3	0.04^§
5. Collegial nurse-physician relations	3.1	0.5	3	3.3	0.4	3.3	0.04^§
Overall	3.1	0.4	3.3	3.3	0.4	3.3	0.04^§
Classification of the environment	Favorable			Favorable

Subescalas	Group 1			Group 2			p-value
Subescalas	AM^†	SD^‡	Median	AM^†	SD^‡	Median	p-value
1. Nurse participation in hospital affairs	3.2	0.5	3.3	3.3	0.4	3.4	0.09^§
2. Nursing foundations for quality of care	3.4	0.4	3.6	3.5	0.3	3.6	0.39^§
3. Nurse manager ability, leadership and support of nurses	3.4	0.5	3.6	3.4	0.5	3.4	0.28^§
4. Staffing and resource adequacy	2.9	0.6	3	3.1	0.6	3.2	0.01^§
5. Collegial nurse-physician relations	3.4	0.5	3.7	3.4	0.4	3.3	0.93^§
Overall	3.3	0.4	3.4	3.4	0.4	3.3	0.06^§
Classification of the environment	Favorable			Favorable

Escola Paulista de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de São Paulo R. Napoleão de Barros, 754, 04024-002 São Paulo - SP/Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 5576 4430 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: actapaulista@unifesp.br

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[1] Corresponding author: Camila Hidemi Danno E-mail: milahidemi@hotmail.com