A Norwegian Study on Views and Experiences of Health Care Professionals Working in Intensive Care Units During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Health Care professionals in intensive care units (ICU) are working front-line with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in need of intensive care treatment.

Data collected will identify the health care professionals' (nurses, medical doctors, leaders) views and experiences from the planning period of COVID-19 ICU units until a follow-up at 12 months.Themes to be covered in the survey are organization, information, communication across disciplines, education, practical implementation, use of personal protective equipment, daily working conditions and psychosocial aspects. The Oslo University Hospital/University of Oslo, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant "TSD"-Services for Sensitive data web-based solution "Nettskjema" will be used combined for consent form and data collection from the survey. It is within the scope of the study to perform sub analysis on background variables as profession related to daily working experiences on COVID-ICU and psychosocial aspects.

A few of the informants (medical doctors, nurses, leaders) participating in the cohort study will randomly (computerized) be asked to participate in focus groups to get a deeper understanding of the experiences of the health care professionals during the pandemic and after the pandemic when they are back to a normal working condition. Leaders at the randomized hospitals will be asked to participate in individualized interviews. Data from the focus group interviews and individual interviews will be taped on a recorder approved by data protection officer at Oslo University Hospital and then stored at a secured computerized research place at Oslo University Hospital.

The gained knowledge from both the survey, the focus group interviews and individual interviews in this study may guide hospital directors and the government in follow up of health care professionals and to prepare for a later pandemic.