ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a defining event for the next generation of the nursing workforce. Complex pandemic practice environments have raised concerns for the preparation and support of novice nurses, even as a multitude of nurses leave the profession. PURPOSE: Researchers sought to examine nursing students' and new graduate nurses' impressions of the nursing profession in contrasting regions of New York State during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Inductive content analysis was performed on narrative text responses (n = 295) drawn from a larger multisite mixed-methods survey. RESULTS: Five subconcepts were abstracted, leading to the main concept of shocked moral distress . CONCLUSION: Nursing students and new graduate nurses have experienced high levels of moral distress but remain committed to the profession. Building moral resilience, fostering ethical decision making, and implementing protective policies can reduce the incidence of moral distress.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Students, Nursing , Humans , Pandemics , COVID-19/epidemiology , Nursing Education Research , Nursing , MoralsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Nurses are concerned for their safety and conflicted about their career, because their duty to care for patients during the pandemic involved competing ethical obligations, including their own personal safety. PURPOSE: The aim was to explore the impact of COVID-19 on new nurses and nursing students in terms of safety and interest in nursing specifically related to self-efficacy, geographic region case density, and frontline experience in health care. METHODS: New nurses and nursing students (N = 472) responded to an online survey examining self-efficacy, sense of safety, and interest in nursing. The survey included an open-ended question to support response interpretation. RESULTS: Researchers identified significant differences among new nurses and students from contrasting case-dense regions in terms of safety and interest in nursing. CONCLUSION: Concerns about personal safety and the safety of others were apparent. Over time, this may lead to a decrease in willingness to enter or remain in the nursing profession.