Nurses’ experiences with virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study in primary care.

Nurses’ experiences with virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study in primary care.

Publication date: Dec 18, 2024

During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual care was used to deliver primary care services. Nurses contributed to primary care teams’ capacity to deliver care virtually. This study explored nurses’ roles in virtual care delivery in primary care and the barriers and facilitators that influenced their contributions. We employed a qualitative descriptive approach and conducted semi-structured interviews with nurses representing each regulatory designation (i. e., Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Licensed/Registered Practical Nurses) working in primary care in four Canadian provinces (i. e., British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador). We performed thematic analysis on data related to the delivery of virtual care. We interviewed seventy-six nurses and identified three key themes and various sub-themes related to virtual nursing practice during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) variable adoption of virtual care among nurses, (2) facilitators and barriers to virtual nursing practice, and (3) impacts of virtual delivery on care provision by nurses. Nurses’ involvement in virtual care varied across designations and nurses recalled various facilitators and impediments that influenced their virtual care experience, such as guidance documents, funding models, and the availability of equipment. Virtual care influenced nurses’ workflow, their ability to deliver patient-centred care, and their ability to bridge the care gap. Primary care teams are increasingly relying upon nurses to support virtual care delivery, emphasizing the need to understand nursing roles in virtual care. Primary care funding models should be leveraged to support nurses in virtual care delivery; and standardized learning opportunities and guidance documents focused on virtual care should be available to support primary care nurses and strengthen their contributions in future primary care teams that involve virtual nursing care.

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Concepts Keywords
Canadian COVID-19
Future Nurse experiences
Interviews Nursing
Nurses Primary care
Pandemic Qualitative research
Virtual care

Semantics

Type Source Name
disease MESH COVID-19 pandemic
pathway REACTOME Reproduction
drug DRUGBANK Coenzyme M
drug DRUGBANK BIA
drug DRUGBANK Etoperidone
drug DRUGBANK Methionine
disease IDO process
disease IDO blood
disease MESH privacy
drug DRUGBANK Cyanocobalamin
drug DRUGBANK Cholesterol
disease IDO history
drug DRUGBANK Trestolone
disease MESH home environments
disease MESH chronic diseases
drug DRUGBANK Ranitidine
drug DRUGBANK Indoleacetic acid
drug DRUGBANK (S)-Des-Me-Ampa
disease IDO quality
disease MESH Hypertension

Original Article

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