עמדותיהן של אחים ואחיות בנוגע לדילמות אתיות, תפיסת סיכון ומוטיבציה להעניק טיפול במגפת הקורונה

Background: Positioned at the front lines of the battle against COVID-19 disease,nurses are at increased risk of contraction and face difficult working conditions and scarce resources. Yet, they feel obligated to provide care. This research was conductedduring the first COVID-19 wave in Israel between April and May 2020.Purposes: The research has three main purposes: (1) To evaluate nurses' perceived riskand motivation to work during the COVID-19 outbreak; (2) To explore nurses' attitudestowards various ethical dilemmas that are relevant to the pandemic; and (3) To examinemotivational factors for working during the pandemic and their implications on thenursing career.Method: The study implemented a descriptive correlative study using a 53-sectiononline questionnaire, including four open-ended questions. A link to the questionnairewas posted on 18 nurses’ Facebook and WhatsApp groups.Findings: 430 registered nurses and nursing students who are about to join thehealthcare system during 2019-2020 completed the survey. The research analyzed 231questionnaires that had been completed correctly and in full.The research found that 68% of respondents had received some form of trainingabout COVID-19. Respondents positioned themselves at perceived high risk levels forcontracting the virus - 6.2 (SD = 2.5). Moreover, about one-third feared going to workbecause of potential contraction and due to feeling inadequately protected. As to nurses'ethical responsibility to care for patients during this period, it was found that about 41%of respondents were scared to care for COVID-19 patients, and around 41% of themhighly agreed that caring for sick or carrier COVID-19 patients entails a significantemotional burden. However, as high as 75% of them did not believe they have the rightto refuse to treat certain patients. The most important motivational factors includedrespondents' obligation to treat patients (38%), followed by their obligation to workduring the COVID-19 pandemic (22%), and the need to make a living (16%).Conclusions: Per their high level of responsibility to care for patients, nurses do notintend leaving the profession, despite significant stress and high risk perception. Yet,it is evident that high portion of them refer to lack of professional and organizationalsupport, and at times also to a sense of exploitation and violation of their rights.