Abstract
BACKGROUND: The world faced a great health crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the health care providers struggled and faced tremendous difficulties in treating high-load critical patients. This was particularly true in low- and middle-income countries where the work and patient loads are always higher and nurses at the forefront must deal with emergencies while being at high risk of exposure. However, little is known about the survival strategies of frontline nurses as dealt with the pandemic. OBJECTIVES: This study catalogued the coping strategies of frontline nurses to deal with caring for the COVID-19 patients during the pandemic. METHODS: The Arksey O'Malley framework was followed to conduct a scoping review. A systematic literature search was conducted using three databases: Google Scholar, Scopus and PubMed; and out of the 192 studies, 12 met the inclusion criteria set for this review study. RESULTS: A total of 44 strategies were identified that motivated nurses to deal with the COVID-19 situation, and these strategies could be categorized into five main themes: nurses' self-strategies, nurses' strategies at the ethical level, employers' strategies, nursing leaders' strategies and supplementary strategies. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study will provide guidance for health care workers, employers, policymakers, regulators and other stakeholders to adopt and promote different strategies in managing difficult emergency situations in future. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: This study emphasizes the importance of learning how to deal with adversity by health care workers and organizations in an emergency.