A STUDY TO EXPLORE THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF FRONT-LINE NURSES DURING COVID- 19 PANDEMIC IN SELECTED HOSPITAL AT RAJASTHAN

Abstract

Nurses are the forefront of promoting health, advocating for patients and advancing the science of care. The World Health Organization (WHO) designated the year 2020 as the year of the Nurse and Midwife and planned to celebrate nurses worldwide, to address challenges nurses face and to highlight nurse’s vast contributions throughout 2020. The year of the Nurse and Midwife was quickly overshadowed by the international invasion of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The effects of COVID-19 have been felt in, and continue to ripple through, all areas of the world. Anecdotes continue to emerge as nurses engage in the power of storytelling to share their individual reality of COVID-19. Curating and archiving these pandemic experiences are important and necessary. COVID-19 (caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Corona Virus-2 (CoV 2) and known as the novel Coronavirus) is an infectious disease which has been recently declared as a pandemic by the WHO. COVID-19 spreads rapidly and often through proximity to the cases and carriers, and there is no vaccine or treatment available to date. As a result, public health scientists across most affected countries worldwide have identified “social distancing,” “self-isolation at home,” and “frequent hand washing” as the strongly recommended measures to contain the spread of the disease. A substantial burden of the clinical treatment and public prevention efforts in hospitals and community settings is on the Health-Care Workers (HCWs). A HCW is one who delivers care and services to the sick and ailing either directly or indirectly. HCWs are at increased risk of being infected because they are at the front line. They have to commute and care for suspected/confirmed cases of COVID-19 for several hours with proximity. This responsibility has its mental health consequences. It is also anxiety provoking for HCWs when they see their colleagues become patients, which can be physically and mentally draining. Some HCWs, unfortunately experience avoidance by their family members and community due to the stigma or fear. The impact of the pandemic on the nursing and midwifery workforce has been unprecedented and will be felt for a long time to come. The crisis has also laid bare and exacerbated longstanding problems faced by nurses and midwives, including inequalities, inadequate working conditions and chronic excessive work pressures. COVID-19 is considered the cause of a dangerous illness that affects people’s lives and, in many cases, threatens the lives of infected people. In addition, this virus presents an immediate danger to the functioning of communities across the world. Such impacts include the loss of jobs and its effects on families, changes in the mode of education because attendance and interaction have shifted to online and distance learning, and many other changes in people’s lives. Despite these facts, in many countries, disease mitigation, preparedness and responses were implemented; however, these measures for coping with the events of COVID-19 were insufficient. The affected countries called for help when COVID 19 massively harmed healthcare systems and hospitals and, in many countries, consumed their medical resources. It was found that the detection of COVID-19 cases was not identical across countries, as in some countries the number of infected cases was large and rapidly increased, and sudden critical care was necessary in countries such as Italy. However, in some countries, the number of cases either remained steady or fluctuated, which is expected in biological disasters.