Exploring experiences and coping strategies of nurses working in intensive care unit: A qualitative study

Background: The nursing profession is in its developing stages in the country yet when it comes to the work itself, the environment can be very competitive. Though nurses, in general, go through a tough time, it is the intensive care unit (ICU) nurses who have to be on their toes all the time. Those working in the pediatric department, deal with young patients requiring constant supervision and care compared to other ICUs. The aim of the current project was to explore the experiences and coping strategies of nurses working in pediatric ICUs in a public sector hospital of Lahore, Pakistan. Methodology: Semi structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 5 nurses who were working in pediatric ICU (PICU) in a public sector hospital. All the nurses were female. Results: The data was managed and analyzed using NVivo 12 version. The four superordinate themes, e.g. vocational problems, psychological problems, biosocial problems and coping had 11 master themes and 70 sub themes. Conclusion: Nurses in PICU face a lot of problems in their everyday work life, yet they have found their own ways to cope with their stress. Regardless the shortage of staff and constant complaints against them, nurses of PICU find solace in religious coping and socialization (as much as they can get). These results will help authorities to look into the problems and provide suitable solutions.