Perceptions and experiences of dialysis nurses regarding redeployment to other dialysis units during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: Redeployment of healthcare workers is one of the strategies that has been successfully used to manage increased workload and shortage of staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about how best to do this in the pandemic and beyond. Objective: Using experiences from a large metropolitan teaching hospital in southeast Melbourne, Australia, this qualitative study sought to understand and describe the experiences and perspectives of dialysis nurses who were redeployed across five hemodialysis units affiliated to this hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Sixteen interviews were conducted in March 2022 among nurses who had been redeployed to other dialysis units during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maximal variation sampling was used to ensure an even representation with regards to gender, dialysis nursing experience and primary place of work. Discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim and inductive thematic analysis was performed. Results: Of the participants interviewed, most were females (75%) and at least 50% were aged 36-45 years. A majority of the participants (56%) had less than 5 years of dialysis nursing experience and 70% had been redeployed to other dialysis units on at least five occasions. Five main themes emerged. These were the nurses’ immediate reaction, barriers to redeployment, benefits of redeployment, local and organisational support and opportunities for improvement. Conclusion: Redeployment of nurses across different dialysis units is associated with personal and organisational benefits. However, there are a number of barriers that need to be addressed to improve the experience of redeployed nurses.