Organisational resilience in remote environments: learning processes and the role of oil and gas platform nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic have raised awareness about organizational resilience, which means a system’s capability to anticipate, cope, and adapt to unexpected events and environmental perturbations. In this regard, it is important to look at local adaptation processes, the emergence of learning, and new patterns of behavior in the emerging global health situation. The goal of the present study is to look at adaptation processes on oil platforms by focusing on the role of offshore nurses. Platform nurses perform healthcare and sanitation inspections, which places them in the middle in many organizational processes taking place on offshore structures. Qualitative semi-structured interviews focusing on the experience of platform nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the adaptive processes. The examination of interaction processes and feedback loops provides the opportunity to reflect upon the possible changes toward a broader system perspective and new practices in a post-pandemic future. This study may also establish a framework for evaluating adaptive processes and emergent learning in organizations resulting from the COVID-19 global pandemic. The findings highlight the importance of informal interactions among platform nurses in coping with uncertainty during the pandemic as a main dimension of system resilience. However, it was possible to identify communication barriers across different organizational levels that may restrict the possibility of the emergence of new practices and preparedness for future crises.