Table 4 Teamwork in pressure cooker: emotional stressors

Fear

“Staff were really afraid in the beginning.” (P1, DIR)

“Well, in the beginning, I was really scared because, I mean, I’m in the high-risk group, you know—and I really didn’t want to be there.” (P2, MDA)

“Everybody was so afraid [of COVID].” (P3, CRNA)

“Everyone was very terrified, obviously, that they were going to catch it—and if they did, in fact, get it where it was going to go and how they were going to be affected or—even the long-term effects of it.” (P4, RN PACU)

“The fear was the thing—you fear for your staff that you’re sending out there, fear with your taking it [COVID-19] home.” (P6, DIR)

“They [staff] came in every day—if they didn’t, there wasn’t a line of people to take those jobs—people were scared.” (P11, CEO)

“So, in the very beginning, I was pretty scared.” (P12, MDA)

“We were all afraid of getting sick and dying.” (P15, CRNA)

“Then—just like all the fear.” (P16, RN COVID ICU)

“I think it [COVID] probably would have scared more people if they could have seen how bad it was, not just on the news.” (P18, RN COVID ICU)

“And so, there was this fear.” (P20, RN PACU)

“I’m still—on guard, because I’m afraid of the variant.” (P21, RN OR)

Anxiety

“Well, I have to say, initially it was very chaotic— the fear of the unknown.” (P5, RN ENDO)

“Early on in the pandemic, there was a lot of fear and a lot of uncertainty, and there was also just constant change.” (P8, ER MD)

“I guess—what I would call it, a time of uncertainty because it’s pretty much you’re going in to work every day not knowing what you’re going to see—this whole time has been about uncertainty. It’s been about you have no idea what’s coming next. You don’t know if you’re going to get it [COVID]. You don’t know if your family member is going to get it [COVID]. You don’t know hide nor hair of what you’re even doing in your job from day to day.” (P9, ADMIN)

“I think we were a little unsure of what to expect because everything was so new.” (P10, RN ENDO)

“It made me even more nervous because in the beginning we didn’t know.” (P12, MDA)

“I just remember everything sort of like changing really quickly from shift to shift in week to week—there was so much that we didn’t know—(P16, RN COVID ICU)

“It’s a pandemic—I never lived through one of those.” (P17, RN PACU)

Frustration

“It’s getting frustrating and then they change their rules that they had had established.” (P3, CRNA)

“It’s just all so unknown that it’s frustrating that anyone can even think they can make a decision on what do we do about this.” (P4, RN PACU)

“Staff felt a little frustrated that other people weren’t stepping up and volunteering [to be deployed] but they were.” (P6, DIR)

“Never really knew what [COVID non-COVID patient assignment] you were going to get —just luck of the draw.” (P19, RN ICU)

“They would have no idea what shifts we were working—it was very, very discombobulated.” (P21, RN OR)

“You didn’t sign up for it, you just got handed this new role—It’s never been done before—there’s no there’s no guide on your path.” (P22, MGR)

Stress

“I just think they were so stressed on trying to keep people alive that they weren’t able to actually toilet people, then brush their hair and make sure that their activities of daily living were being met.” (P5, RN ENDO)

“It was stressful—the not knowing—the level of stress that’s embedded in all of this, it complicates things (P7, CRNA )

“They were as stressed as everybody else was—they were trying their hardest to protect patients and staff.” (P11, CEO)

“I feel that people knew that everyone was under a significant amount of pressure and stress.” (P15, CRNA)