ABSTRACT
The issue as to whether health care professionals have a moral obligation to take a vaccine for a communicable disease is not new. Nonetheless, this issue takes on a fresh urgency within nursing practice in the context of the present COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., is there an ethical requirement for nurses to take a COVID-19 vaccine? This paper approaches the issue by using a hypothetical example of Nurse X who has inadvertently infected Patient Y. French's (1984a) Principle of Responsive Adjustment is adapted to claim that there would be a moral expectation that Nurse X takes a COVID-19 vaccine (unless there are justifiable reasons not to). The proposition is also made that, should Nurse X not take a COVID-19 vaccine, they could be morally associated with originally infecting Patient Y.
Subject(s)
Anti-Vaccination Movement/trends , COVID-19 Vaccines/therapeutic use , Nurses/standards , Anti-Vaccination Movement/psychology , Humans , Nurses/psychologyABSTRACT
Rapid response is a common term in hospital settings, reflecting immediate clinical response to a critical challenge. In preparation for the oncoming pandemic of novel coronavirus 2019, nurse leaders within a large health system in the Mountain West region implemented a rapid response to prepare nondirect care registered nurses for deployment to the bedside. This article highlights the prompt action, organization, and implementation of this process, as well as the lessons learned for future events.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Clinical Competence/standards , Nurses/standards , Nursing Care/standards , Organizational Innovation , Humans , Leadership , United StatesABSTRACT
During a pandemic, basic public health precautions must be taken across settings and populations. However, confinement conditions change what can be done in correctional settings. Correctional nursing (CN) care, like all nursing care, needs to be named and encoded to be recognized and used to generate data that will advance the discipline and maintain standards of care. The Omaha System is a standardized interprofessional terminology that has been used since 1992 to guide and document care. In 2019, a collaboration between the newly formed American Correctional Nurses Association and the Omaha System Community of Practice began a joint effort with other stakeholders aimed at encoding evidence-based pandemic response interventions used in CN. The resulting guidelines are included and illustrated with examples from CN practice.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/nursing , Correctional Facilities/standards , Documentation/standards , Nurses/standards , COVID-19/epidemiology , Humans , Nurses/organization & administration , Nursing Care/standards , Practice Guidelines as Topic , SARS-CoV-2 , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Editor's note: This article is by 22 nursing gerontology experts who are all advocates of nursing home reform. They are listed at the end of this article.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S./standards , Health Policy , Nurses/standards , Nursing Staff/trends , Workforce/organization & administration , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/transmission , Humans , Nursing Homes , Nursing Staff/supply & distribution , United StatesABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic affected the psychological health of nurses. Numerous nurses have been facing mental complications associated with quarantine such as psychological distress and fear. The gravity of COVID-19 pandemic is triggering further mental health challenges among nurses. The continuous stress nurses are facing, could trigger post-traumatic stress symptoms, poor service delivery, suicide ideation and suicide. Assessing and preserving the mental health of nurses and the health care workers in general is necessary for optimal disease control. Psychiatric interventions are needed to attend to the psychological need of nurses treating COVID-19 patients. Such interventions imply using E-learning and video platforms to educate nurses on communication skills, case handling skills and problem-solving tactics to deal with the possible psychological problems that might arise from treating COVID-19 patients.