THE NURSES AS HEALTHCARE WARRIORS IN COVID-19: PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The year 2020 is announced as “the year of the Nurses and midwives” by the World Health Organization to commemorate 200-year birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. The declaration has given true sense by the outbreak of novel CORONA virus since the beginning of the year. The nurses are the frontline fighters against COVID-19 to save the humankind. They put their lives at risk and perform their duties and responsibilities round the clock towards the community, public health and hygiene. Nurses have been showing the act of heroism, be it during the wars, epidemics and at times of disasters such as Covid-19. Nurses are facing many challenges in carrying out their duties and one of the biggest challenges is shortage of nurses, due to which they are overloaded with work. Nurses play a crucial role in the healthcare delivery system and nursing services has a great impact on health outcome of patients and public. The nurses are the backbone of the healthcare services. The nurses play a vital role towards the improvement of public health and hygiene with their independent practice. There is incredible scope to utilize the qualified nurses in public health and hygiene in developing countries like India to improve the wellbeing and quality of life of community dwellers. The emphasis must be given in utilization of the professional nurses in the public health sector. KEY WORDS: Nurses, COVID-19, challenges, Independent role and public health perspective.