Challenges and Issues of Nurses in Serving COVID-19 Patients: A Study with Reference to Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Health care became priority due to COVID-19 pandemic. Despite governments have taken utmost preventive and safeguarding measures, many people lost their lives due to disorganized medical care system in India. The role of nurses in serving the severe COVID patients is exuberant. Nurses have direct contact with COVID patients and must spend longer hours in and around the patients. The way nurses rendered services under extreme lockdown conditions is quite palpable. They do have lot of stress in discharging duties during the pandemic. The aim of this paper is to address the challenges and issues of nurses while serving COVID-19 patients and to provide appropriate measures to overcome challenges during the pandemic. The study is empirical and descriptive in nature. Shortage of nurses, afraid of viral infection, longer shifts, heavy workload, inadequate PPE, social stigma, maintaining social distance with loved ones of family members, relatives, and friends, lack of appreciation and recognition by the doctors, helplessness towards colleagues, and lack of awareness of safety protocols among COVID-19 positive patients caused physical and psychological stress among nurses. They have adapted a coping mechanism with belief in God, support from family and friends, soothing conversation with a peer group, kind treatment to each other, concern for well-being of humanity to bail out the situation during the pandemic.Outbreak of COVID-19 created unprecedented challenges and lessons to people of the globe. People praise only doctors in contribution of saving lives while healthcare professionals like nurses often are ignored, undervalued, and underpaid in healthcare sector. Nurses play vital role in saving lives with their altruistic services. They too have faced drastic challenges in the pandemic. Insufficient medical staff and equipment, increased workload with longer shifts, social exclusion, fear of being infected, shortage of PPE kits, and mismanagement are some challenges which put nurses in adversity with physical and psychological stress. Monetary and non-monetary incentives such as economic support, word of appreciation and work recognition, safe and adequate PPEs, and appropriate workload would motivate nurses to contribute more during the pandemic. Public health emergency must put in practice to ensure quality healthcare services.