Working experiences of nurses during the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak

Aims To explore working experiences of nurses during Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak. Background Since the first case of Middle East respiratory syndrome was reported on May 20, 2015 in South Korea, 186 people, including health care workers, were infected, and 36 died. Design A qualitative descriptive study. Methods Seven focus groups and 3 individual in‐depth interviews were conducted from August to December 2015. Content analysis was used. Results The following 4 major themes emerged: “experiencing burnout owing to the heavy workload,” “relying on personal protective equipment for safety,” “being busy with catching up with the new guidelines related to Middle East respiratory syndrome,” and “caring for suspected or infected patients with caution.” Participants experienced burnout because of the high volume of work and expressed safety concerns about being infected. Unclear and frequently changing guidelines were 1 of the common causes of confusion. Participants expressed that they need to be supported while caring for suspected or infected patients. Conclusion This study showed that creating a supportive and safe work environment is essential by ensuring adequate nurse staffing, supplying best‐quality personal protective equipment, and improving communication to provide the quality of care during infection outbreak. SUMMARY STATEMENT What is already known about this topic? Infectious disease outbreaks cause a significant level of distress and fear among nurses. Nurses are near to patients, even when they have life‐threatening infectious diseases. Little is known about the work experiences of nurses during the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreaks. What this paper adds? High volume of work and fear of infection appear to be the main concerns among nurses during the outbreak. Nurses were confused about best practices because of lack of clarity of the guidelines during the outbreak. However, sharing information on the new guidelines and job‐related information via text messages using smartphones was helpful for the nurses. Creating a supportive work environment and providing adequate training for nurses is essential. The implications of this paper: Nurse managers and hospital administrators should establish strategies to prevent nurses from burnout and to ensure their safety during the outbreak of infectious diseases. Clear and consistent practice guidelines and effective communication methods among nurses should be developed. Inc