COVID-19: Nursing Perspective

Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, nurses have answered the call to provide exceptional care to patients and families affected by the virus, which has not been easy. Nurses continue to deal with increased patient volumes, personal protective equipment shortages, long shifts, lack of specific treatment guidelines, and frightened patients and families. Nevertheless, nursing interventions and innovations enhance patient care despite these barriers. Nurses care for patients with high acuity. They also deal with family separation because of visitation policies while involving themselves in advance care planning, discharge planning, work with interprofessional teams, and more. This chapter reviews the complexity of the care provided by nurses and discusses the moral and ethical distress it has created for nurses.