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The COVID-19 pandemic was among the most ground-shaking pandemics I have experienced in my profession. Nurses were on the frontline globally in the fight against covid 19. During this time, emergency departments were significantly flooded across all facilities. The healthcare system was significantly strained as other facilities became full. The worst of all, personal protective gear ran out of supply due to the massive response to the influx of patients in healthcare. Healthcare practitioners face significant risks of infection while providing care to their patients due to a lack of protective gear. In addition, the level of stress and anxiety was skyrocketing due to the stressful working environment for nurses. The workload had significantly increased, and the shortage of medical resources was crippling healthcare globally. These challenges significantly impacted my values in clinical practices, including sacrificial commitments, the duty to personal care, and empathetic commitments.
Nurses have a professional commitment to the care of patients. In addition, the code of ethics in nursing indicates that nurses’ primary responsibility is to the patients (Weber, 2020); however, the author indicates that nurses owe themselves the equal commitment they give to others. The constant need for care during covid 19 made me realize the importance of giving myself the same care to prevent infection and live up to the nursing code of ethics; nurses need to protect themselves from infection, especially when caring for patients. This belief has made me more conscious regarding infection control in the hospital since when my health is compromised; I will not be able to serve my duty to patients.
COVID-19 highlighted the importance of nurses in the healthcare system, especially in providing independent primary healthcare. The shortage of medical resources, including labour, challenges the limited autonomy of nurses in the healthcare system, requiring them to take part in providing primary care. This dynamic change also needed a high level of empathetic collaboration among all healthcare professionals to save lives (Momeni & Khatooni, 2023). This context positively impacted my values regarding cooperation in the healthcare system. Everyone has a role to play, and we do not have to wait until the pandemic unmasks such roles for us to see in the same way; the pandemic underscored the role of nurses in healthcare; we should then look deep into everyone’s role and appreciate every healthcare practitioner’s role in healthcare delivery.
The concept of sacrificial commitment stood out so well during the COVID-19 pandemic urses had to make significant sacrifices during this pandemic to continue their profession despite the imminent threat to their health he risk of infecting families and loved ones was significantly high ome even suffered social stigmatization from the public (Momeni & Khatooni, 2023) ccording to Mason et al. (2020), the standard of care requires all health interventions to be based on evidence-based protocol owever, during such a crisis of COVID-19 19, where nurses have made sacrifices for the better good of the public, and there is a shortage of medical resources, their sacrifices can go unrewarded hat happens when a frontline nurse and patient require a ventilator and only one nce then, I firmly believe that nurses should be actively involved in advocacy and policy-making roles to help improve the working environment of nurses and all other health professions T ese positions will help streamline healthcare sectors and increase future preparedness responses to foreseen endemic and pandemics M re favourable policies will also attaché more value to healthcare providers in clinical practice as potential patients rather than just as healthcare providers.
In conclusion, covid 19 was an eye-opener in the healthcare system. The pandemic challenges most of the status quo in healthcare, such as the role of nurses. In addition, it served as a personal motivation to hold different values and perspectives regarding personal health commitments, collaboration and sacrificial commitment in healthcare.
References
Mason, D. J., Perez, A., McLemore, M. R., & Dickson, E. (2020) P licy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care-E-Book: Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences h tps://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zjHNDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Policy+and+Politics+in+Nursing+and+Health+Care&ots=briWaFVWY7&sig=cOXKfCpFk3cwvVrRNYHRK4TgTGk#v=onepage&q=Policy%20and%20Politics%20in%20Nursing%20and%20Health%20Care&f=false
Momeni, M., & Khatooni, M. (2023) N rses’ professional commitment in COVID-19 crisis: A qualitative study Nursing Ethics, 30(3), 449-461 h tps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9902799/
Weber, E. (2020). Ethics and personal safety on the frontlines of COVID-19 American Nurse Journal, 15(6), 40-41 h tps://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA627597857&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=19305583&p=HRCA&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E894ed52e&aty=open-web-entry
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