China’s Successful Recruitment of Healthcare Professionals to the Worst-hit City: A Lesson Learn

Abstract Background The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan has led Chinese health authorities to recruiting medical doctors and nurses from the least affected areas to provide care to the infected patients in Wuhan. The current study is part of a larger study where we took further steps to explain some plausible reasons for the experiences.Methods We used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to understand the subjective experiences as well as the reasons for these experiences amongst the medical doctors and nurses who had travelled form the least affected part of China to render help during Wuhan’s outbreak. Using purposive and snowball sampling, healthcare professionals were recruited from three major hospitals in Jiangsu province. Basing on the participants’ choice of venue, semi-structured interviews were conducted from 1st September to 14th November 2020 in face-to-face contexts. ResultsTen nurses and four doctors provided their informed consent for the study. The primary superordinate theme recounted how the social identity and individual’s needs were challenged by the individual’s professional ethics.ConclusionsCOVID-19 not only presents significant risks to the health of healthcare professionals, it further challenges their emotional and psychosocial wellbeing. Care should be taken in allocating support and help, with careful deployment of professional values and beliefs, so that any human resources as precious as medical doctors and nurses can be protected.