Challenges faced by nurses in hospital bed management during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: to report challenges faced by nurses in managing beds in a hospital inpatient unit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: this is a descriptive study, of the experience report type. The experiences come from nurses who work in a large public hospital, located in the city of Belo Horizonte-MG. The experiences were collected between March 2020 and March 2022 and organized into thematic poles, based on the assumptions of the quality analysis proposed by Donabedian. Results: the challenges faced lie in maintaining the distance between beds, sharing bathrooms, electrical adaptations, creating backup beds, changing the profile of beds and communication between professionals. Conclusion: the results converge with the challenges previously found in the literature. However, they present in a detailed and structured way the reality of an inpatient unit, which has the potential to help in crisis situations, without predictability and scientific framework