国内発生初期に感染症病棟で新型コロナウイルス感染症に院内感染し職場復帰できた看護師の思い—感染する前から感染判明後しばらくの間に抱いた思いに焦点をあてて

Thoughts of Nurses who Acquired Nosocomial Coronavirus Disease 2019 in an Infectious Disease Ward in the Early Stage of an Outbreak in Japan and Were Able to Return to Work: Focus on the Thoughts They Had Before and after Their Infection Was Diagnosed

要旨

　目的：新型コロナウイルス感染症に院内感染した看護師の支援と感染症看護に携わる看護師への事前・継続教育及び病院の管理体制に関する示唆を得るために，院内感染した看護師の感染前と感染判明後しばらくの間に抱いた思いを明らかにする．

　方法：A病院の感染症病棟で院内感染し，職場復帰できた看護師8名に半構成的面接法によるインタビューを行い質的帰納的に分析した．

　結果：感染する前は［未知の感染症の脅威への認識不足］，［感染症病棟で働く不安と不満］，判明直後は［感染のショックと不安］，［自分を守りたい思い］，判明後しばらくしてからは［看護師としての使命感と患者への自責の念］，［感染判明のダメージからの立ち直り］の思いが抽出された．

　結論：感染する前は現場の混乱が生じる中で不安と不満があった．判明直後はショックと不安の中看護師の使命感があり，他の陽性者と支え合った．感染拡大の認識を高く持つこと，感染予防教育，病院からの時宜を得た情報提供の重要性が示唆された．

　Objective: To clarify the thoughts and feelings of nurses before and after acquiring nosocomial coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in order to support hospital-acquired nurses and to suggest how to provide prior and continuous education to nurses involved in infectious disease nursing.

　Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight nurses working on the infectious disease ward at Hospital A who were able to return to work after acquiring nosocomial COVID-19, and the data were then analyzed qualitatively and inductively.

　Results: The extracted thoughts and feelings of nurses before infection included a “lack of awareness of threats to unknown infectious disease” and “anxiety and dissatisfaction about working in the infectious disease ward”, immediately after infection included “shock and anxiety about being infected” and “desire to protect themselves”, and at some time after infection included a “sense of mission as a nurse and remorse for patients” and “recovery from the damage caused by the infection”.

　Conclusion: Before becoming infected, the nurses worked with anxiety and frustration as confusion arose in the hospital, and immediately after the discovery of their infection, they felt a sense of mission while dealing with shock and anxiety and supporting each other. These results suggest the importance of maintaining a high level of awareness regarding the spread of infection, education on infection prevention, and the timely provision of information.