“This is really like waiting for war and this is not good” – Intertwining between pandemic experiences, and the development of professional action of healthcare professionals in critical care at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: a qualitative study

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are facing remarkable challenges in their daily work since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Being well prepared is crucial for dealing with such a pandemic. The aim of our study was to explore HCPs’ subjective perspectives on their professional action and coping strategies in critical care during the preparation and coping phase after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.

Together with HCPs working in critical care, we collaboratively designed an interview study based on an ethnomethodological approach. We performed semi-structured qualitative interviews via telephone or video call and analysed the data based on grounded theory.

Our research interest was focused on HCPs (qualified nurses, physicians, medical students) working in critical care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany between April and July 2020.

Our sample consisted of 39 HCPs (19 nurses, 17 physicians, three medical students, 18/39 female) from ten German federal states. All participants were involved in the acute care of COVID-19 infected patients in hospitals and had a mean professional experience of 14.8±10.1 years, 15 participants held a management position (e.g. senior physician or head nurse). We recruited participants via personal contacts and snowballing.

Initial and focused coding resulted in seven categories: Creating structural measures, handling operational changes, dealing with personal protective equipment, building up knowledge and skills, managing information, perceiving peer support and experiencing emotions.

Professional action and subjectively perceived preparedness (professional and emotional) interacted with each other. Their interrelation was not static, but rather dynamic and ambiguous according to the situation. The findings of our study can be beneficial in developing guidelines, policy interventions or personnel and work practice strategies.