Maintaining operability at a high personal cost - a mixed method study on maternal healthcare workers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic forced leaders and employees in health care services to take difficult decisions to manage risks associated with employee health and the organizations' functioning. This study aims to identify the changes in employee working routines, job demands, and job resources within Swedish maternal healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how these changes affected workload and health.

Methods: Data were derived from the longitudinal COPE Staff study involving midwives and physicians within maternal healthcare. Three focus group discussions with midwives and physicians (n = 13), and open-ended survey responses (n = 604) during the third wave of the pandemic (January to May 2021) were analyzed using deductive content analysis based on the Job Demands-Resources model. Quantitative measures of workload and burnout from three survey waves, both during the pandemic (January to May 2021 [n = 782] and January to March 2022 [n = 503]) and after the pandemic (February to March 2023 [n = 759]), were analyzed.

Results: Multiple changes in working routines were implemented to adhere to national and local guidelines aiming to decrease the spread of Sars-CoV-2. As a result, midwives and physicians experienced increased job demands, including an increased workload and higher emotional and cognitive demands. To balance these demands, new working routines were introduced, and managers increased their efforts to communicate and support the employees. Collegial support also grew. When surveyed, however, most of the maternal healthcare workers said they experienced a high workload. It was found that between 3-7% likely experienced burn out, while another 10% were at risk of burnout during and after the pandemic.

Conclusions: The pandemic had a large effect on maternal healthcare employees. Strategies and adaptations on an organizational, managerial, and individual level played an important role in modifying the impact on the organization's operations and employees.