Ethical Challenges to the Self-care of Nurses during the Covid-19 Pandemic

BackgroundThe emerging working conditions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic have imposed numerous ethical challenges on the nurses, which, in turn, can negatively impact the nurses’ physical and mental health, and thus their work performance through intensifying negative emotions and psychological...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Manookian, Arpi (Author) ; Nayeri, Nahid Dehghan (Author) ; Dashti, Seemin (Author) ; Shahmari, Mehraban (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2024
In: Nursing ethics
Year: 2024, Volume: 31, Issue: 2/3, Pages: 161-175
Further subjects:B Covid 19
B Qualitative Research
B Self-care
B ethical challenges
B Nurse
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:BackgroundThe emerging working conditions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic have imposed numerous ethical challenges on the nurses, which, in turn, can negatively impact the nurses’ physical and mental health, and thus their work performance through intensifying negative emotions and psychological pressures.AimThe purpose of this study was to highlight the nurses’ perceptions of the ethical challenges that they faced regarding their self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic.Research designA qualitative, descriptive study with a content analysis approach.Participants and research contextThe data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 nurses working in the COVID-19 wards of two university-affiliated hospitals. These nurses were selected using a purposive sampling method and the data were analyzed using a content analysis approach.Ethical considerationsThe study was approved by the TUMS Research Council Ethics Committee under the code: IR.TUMS.VCR.REC.1399.594. In addition, it is based on the participants’ informed consent and confidentiality.FindingsTwo themes and five sub-themes were identified, including ethical conflicts (the conflict between self-care and comprehensive patient care, prioritization of life, and inadequate care) and inequalities (intra- and inter-professional inequalities).ConclusionThe findings demonstrated that the nurses’ care is a prerequisite for the patients’ care. Considering that the ethical challenges faced by nurses are related to unacceptable working conditions, organizational support, and lack of access to facilities such as personal protective equipment, it seems essential to support nurses and provide adequate working conditions to provide patients with quality care.
ISSN:1477-0989
Contains:Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/09697330231180753