During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses experienced secondary trauma that placed them at risk for compassion fatigue and burnout. In the 20-bed medical intermediate care unit of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, bedside nurses experienced this heightened trauma when the unit suddenly transitioned to a COVID-19 unit. With the increasing stress, staff in the unit who experienced deep trauma struggled to recover through traditional debriefing support. Because evidence shows that storytelling is a useful therapeutic intervention and had been used successfully in our institution’s graduate nurse residency program, we initiated facilitator-led, peer-supported storytelling sessions—Tales From the Bedside—to increase coping and resiliency of bedside nurses impacted by COVID-19 in the unit.
Nurses are known to experience secondary trauma related to mounting distress, challenging cases, workplace demands, staffing issues, and staff assaults, which can lead to increasing amounts of compassion fatigue, burnout, and turnover. As evidenced during the pandemic, nurses...