Working conditions of intensive care unit nurses and quality of care during the pandemic: a qualitative study.

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in patient demand was observed in intensive care units, as well as a deterioration of working conditions and quality of care.

Objectives: To analyze the working conditions of the nursing staff of an intensive care unit in the city of Medellín during the COVID-19 pandemic and their relationship with the quality of nursing care.

Methods: A qualitative study was developed in the adult intensive care unit of a third-level health care institution in the city of Medellin, Colombia.

Allostatic load and physiological responses to work stress: an integrative review.

Assessing the allostatic load of workers in the context of COVID -19 is of vital importance to elucidate the physiological responses to social and work stress. This is an integrative review of the literature including seven established steps: 1) identification of the topic and the guiding question; 2) definition of MeSH terms and search equations; 3) search in databases following defined criteria; 4) data collection according to inclusion criteria; 5) evaluation of the studies included in the integrative review; 6) discussion of results; and 7) presentation of the review/synthesis of knowledge. Seventeen studies were included, of which 15 were cross-sectional observational studies and two were longitudinal studies.