What Healthcare Workers Told Us about Working through the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis of Digital Audio Stories

Aims. The purpose of this article is to share the qualitative results of digital stories from 21 healthcare workers during the second wave of the pandemic and compare them with stories analyzed during the first wave. Background. Everyone has personal COVID-19 experiences and memories. Yet, the literature is lacking in how the stories from the healthcare team during the pandemic affected the individual healthcare worker at that time. Methods. A descriptive qualitative study analyzing digital stories was conducted during the second wave of the pandemic of a large Midwest healthcare system. Results. Twenty-one audio stories were analyzed. Four themes revealed were negative emotional response/impact, feelings/statements of optimism and hope, imposed or changing role expectations, and leadership/administration concerns. These themes aligned with the first wave analysis. Conclusions. Healthcare workers during COVID-19 experienced profound upheaval in their usual daily rhythm. This study revealed that there was a paradox of experiences consistently shared through their own stories including perceptions healthcare workers had of their leadership and the perceived system failure. Implications for Nursing Management. The pandemic resulted in healthcare teams expressing anxiety in caring for COVID patients, yet trying to remain hopeful. They also expressed awareness of how their own roles changed and the leadership failures during this time. Strong leadership is required to create a path forward for healthcare workers.