The Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Senior Nurses in the COVID-19 ICU: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

Working with hi-tech life-supporting machines in the midst of rapid changes in regulations and settings has raised dilemmas among senior nurses who must inevitably work with fresh-graduate nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Staffing limitations in nursing, in terms of both quality and quantity, where the nurses must be dressed in hot personal protective equipment suits, have added a conflict in the intensive care unit. This research sought to reveal the reality in the ICU setting during COVID-19 based on nurses’ narratives of their experiences and feelings working in the COVID-19 ICU. This research was conducted in the COVID-19 ICU of one of the public hospitals in Riau Province. The purposive sampling technique was used to choose intensive care unit nurses. In-depth recorded phone interviews were performed from June to July 2022. The total number of participants joining this research until the researcher reached a data saturation point was five. This research used Colaizzi’s phenomenological method to uncover the meanings behind patients’ stories. The majority of participants were female, and there was only one male nurse. Sixty percent of the nurses had Bachelor’s degrees, and the remaining 40% had nursing diploma degrees. Four participants (80%) were government employees, and one (20%) was a freelance daily worker. The participants had been working for eight years on average. Five themes emerged: 1) work motivation, 2) COVID-19 protocol, 3) the competencies of nursing volunteers, 4) family roles, and 5) professional ethical dilemmas.
 Keywords: ethics, dilemma, nurses, COVID-19, intensive care unit