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Emotional labor of nurses in the front line against the COVID-19 pandemic

2021; Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem; Volume: 74; Issue: suppl 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1590/0034-7167-2020-0660

1984-0446

Paula Diogo, Odete Lemos e Sousa, Joana Rodrigues, Tânia Alexandra de Almeida Martins de Almeida e Silva, Márcia Leandra Ferreira Santos,

Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout

To analyze nurses' experiences in the front line of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the performance of emotional labor (EL), aiming at its characterization and identification of support strategies and development opportunities of nurses and practices.Qualitative, descriptive, and exploratory study, with content analysis of eleven written narratives and reports from a focus group composed of nurses with experience in caring for patients with COVID-19 from different Hospital Centers in Lisbon, Portugal.Five themes were extracted: 1) Challenges experienced by nurses in the frontline; 2) Emotions experienced by nurses in service care; 3) Emotional responses of nurses and patients: impact on care; 4) EL of nurses in the patient care process; 5) Opportunities for development in the face of the emotional challenge required of nurses in combating COVID-19.The nurses demonstrated the ability to transform this profoundly emotional experience positively.