Nurses’ satisfaction and experiences of redeployment during COVID-19- A cross-sectional survey

Background: Literature suggested that redeployment to an unfamiliar environment is a risk to nurses’ mental health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many health professionals, particularly nurses, were required to be redeployed to different units to meet the changing demands of health service. This study aimed to evaluate nurses’ satisfaction and experiences of redeployment during COVID-19 and identify factors influencing redeployment satisfaction. Methods: : A cross-sectional survey was developed to explore level of satisfaction and understand redeployment experiences. A total of 600 nurses from a tertiary teaching hospital in Australia were invited to complete an online survey from July to August 2020 with an estimated 25% of these experiencing redeployment as result of COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regression was used to identify what impacts redeployment satisfaction. Redeployment experiences were analysed using iterative thematic approach. Results: : A total of 98 surveys were analysed, with an estimated response rate of 65%. Forty-four percent of redeployed nurses were dissatisfied with redeployment and 53% reported a negative redeployment experience. Nurses who had a negative redeployment experience were five times more likely to be dissatisfied with redeployment (OR: 5.17, 95% CI: 2.12-12.5). These results were reflected in the qualitative findings where nurses reported that a positive redeployment experience such as “feeling welcome” and being given “fair patient allocation” eased their anxiety of being redeployed and created a positive perception on redeployment. Conclusion: Redeployment of healthcare workers during a pandemic is inevitable. This study highlighted that a large proportion of redeployed nurses feel dissatisfied with redeployment. Creating a positive redeployment experience is an important consideration to improve nurses’ satisfaction. In order to reduce the negative impact of dissatisfaction, more research needs to investigate how the negative redeployment experienced by nurses impacts on quality care and patient safety.