Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical care and patient-focused outcomes of advanced nursing practice: A cross-sectional study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 19; no. 11; p. e0313751
• Main Authors: Chair, Sek Ying, Kilpatrick, Kelley, Heffernan, Catrina, Hays, Stacia M, Liu, Huaping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 14-11-2024; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Advanced practice nurses; Biology and Life Sciences; Care and treatment; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Cross-sectional studies; Disease control; Disease transmission; Education; Medical personnel; Medicine and Health Sciences; Nurses; Nursing; Nursing care; Nursing education; Pandemics; Patients; People and Places; Professional practice; Questionnaires; Rank tests; Registered nurses; Roles; Scope of practice; Social Sciences; Surveys; Working conditions; Workload; China; Hong Kong China; United Kingdom > UK; Asia; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313751

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted advanced practice nurses' practice and posed great challenges in patient care delivery. Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the practice of advanced practice nurses in mainland China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). Methods A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted March 2021 and January 2022. Advanced practice nurses were invited to participate in an online survey. The questionnaire described the socio-demographic characteristics, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on advanced nursing practice, patient outcomes, education needs about COVID-19, and the challenges, support, and concerns related to the advanced practice nurse practice during the pandemic. Wilcoxon signed-rank test or McNemar test were applied to measure the practice of APNs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Respondents (N = 336) were from mainland China (n = 234) and Hong Kong SAR (n = 102). Participants reported increased practice-related workload during the pandemic. The proportions of advanced practice nurses focused on disease prevention (36.9%) and psychosocial well-being (15.5%) for patient-focused outcomes during the pandemic were higher compared to before the pandemic. Key challenges and concerns during the pandemic included heavy workloads and health concerns for themselves and their families. Despite difficulties, there were reports of positive changes since the outbreak including implementation of innovative measures to facilitate the advanced practice nursing and education about COVID-19. Conclusion The study findings highlight that advanced practice nurses' work and responsibilities have changed in response to the pandemic. Providing education about COVID-19, innovative measures to facilitate advanced practice nursing, and understanding advanced practice nurses' concerns and challenges in providing patient care may inform future developments for improving their professional practice.