Abstract

The rise of Covid-19 cases became a worldwide outbreak and has made a great impact on the world population including nursing workforce. Search of related literature was conducted to gather data similar to the study. This review gives us a grip of the reality on what our nurses are experiencing in this time of pandemic. It gives a summary of the holistic view of the frontline nurses body response to their work, with great challenge to psychological and emotional aspects.

1. Introduction

Corona Virus Disease 2019 has been known to be a public health crisis touching every sector including the health care sectors ¹. This was named by the World Health Organization as a “public health emergency of international concern”.

There is a rapid spread of Covid-19 which has caused a challenge worldwide in all aspects. The threat caused by this pandemic is huge. The escalating number of cases has alarmed every population more so with the medical frontliners, the nurses in particular. A big part of the challenges is posted to the frontline nurses. Covid-19 is a newly identified disease; its vaccine and treatment are under development. Nurses fulfill their professional obligation compromising not only physical but also psychological and emotional as well. It was found out in a study that frontline nurses experienced many different mental health challenges especially burn-out and fear ². In a report, nurses experienced a high level of anxiety and the highest prevalence of anxiety ^{3, 4, 5}. Anxiety stems from their fear of being infected and infecting their loved ones. Some nurses have inadequate knowledge in handling and caring for patients who are affected by the deadly disease. It can also be added that they experience discrimination in their communities. Nurses in critical care settings have been observed to be experiencing severe emotional distress which is associated with the development of compassion fatigue/burn out ⁶. The demand is longer working hours, prolonged use of Personal Protective Device (PPE) during longer shifts under physically demanding environments. This poses a negative effect on the nurses. They experience inadequate breaks for personal care, hydration, and nutrition.

2. Methods

An electronic search of related literature was done to gather relevant about the impact of covid-19 pandemic on the nursing workforce.

3. Results

The review studies on how the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic affects the well-being of nurses revealed that frontline nurses experience physical exhaustion in addition to mental distress.

4. Conclusion

The longer exposure to the routine pandemic working environment, the more likely to have mental distress. Revising the current working condition could reduce the impact on nurses' physical and mental health.

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