Intensive Care Unit Staff Perceptions of Redeployment to Other Clinical Areas: A Mixed Method Approach

AIM: The study aimed to explore the perceptions of intensive care unit staff deployed to other clinical areas. It also aimed to identify challenges that the staff face during their redeployment. DESIGN: A mixed method study. Method: 40 participants (nurses and healthcare assistants) completed an anonymous online questionnaire, and five participants (nurses) participated in one-to-one semi-structured interviews. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling from the selected ICU/HDU. RESULTS: Content analysis of the data revealed three major themes: “Negative feelings of redeployment”, “Positive feelings of redeployment” and “Visible and Structured leadership interventions”. Results indicate that ICU nursing management needs to make some additional efforts and implement the study recommendations to improve the overall perception and experience of ICU/HDU staff redeployment. Public Contribution: This research will create insight into the redeployment of intensive care unit staff to other clinical areas. Furthermore, it will add value to patient safety and improve institutional healthcare policies.