Improving the efficiency of nursing work for patients with severe COVID-19

Abstract Background Exploring new ways to improve the efficiency of nursing work for patients with severe new coronavirus pneumonia. Methods A total of 372 clinical nursing shifts from February 9, 2020 to April 11, 2020 were analyzed in this study. Shifts were divided into a control group (186 shifts before reorganization) and an observation group (186 shifts after reorganization). Following improvements were applied: wearing the protective equipment, communication between inside and outside the contaminated area, and time needed to restock the bedside consumables. Results After the new method was applied, changing of protective equipment during worktime was reduced (5% (9/186) in the observation group vs. 15% (27/186) in the control group; P = 0.003). Moreover, the time needed to transfer items between inside and outside contaminated area and time for replenishment consumables for bedside treatment was shorter in the observation group compared to the control group (1.98 ± 1.41, 6.86 ± 2.25 vs. 2.52 ± 1.97, 10.81 ± 4.45, respectively; all P < 0.002). Conclusion The new applied measures have improved the nursing efficiency in patients with severe novel coronavirus pneumonia.