Moral Sensitivity and Safe Nursing Care among nurses caring Covid-19 patients in Punjab, Pakistan: A Pilot Project

Abstract

Background: After a COVID-19 pandemic, the roles of healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, have gained a lot of attention. Nurses, who are on the frontlines of care, have a very important job in keeping patients safe and well, especially when dealing with diseases that spread quickly. It's really important to balance ethical concerns with making sure patients are taken care of safely. This study focuses on this important connection, trying to understand how nurses make ethical decisions and follow safety rules when dealing with a contagious disease like COVID-19. The study aims to help us learn more about how ethics and safety play a role in nursing, and also teaches us about the difficulties nurses face in their important work

Objective: This research aimed to “Assess the level of moral sensitivity and safe nursing care among nurses caring covid-19" and an "Identify the association between moral sensitivity and safe nursing care, among nurses caring for patients with covid-19."

Method: A total of 152 nurses working at two major hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan, took part in this cross-sectional pilot study. The participants were selected using a convenience sampling method. The researcher gathered data through a modified form of questionnaire. The collected data go through analysis using SPSS version 21.0 software, which involved utilizing measures such as frequency, percentage, and the Spearman correlation test with a significance level of P<0.05, results were presented in the form of tables.

Result: The majority of the study participants 94.45% were women, while 6.65% were male. Significant proportions, about 62.55%, were single in terms of their marital status, and their ages ranged from 20 to 30 years. A 75.7% of the nurses demonstrated a moderate level of moral sensitivity, and a comparable 73% exhibited a moderate level of adherence to safe care practices when tending to COVID-19 patients. There was a statistically significant connection between moral sensitivity and safe nursing care, as evidenced by a p-value less than 0.05 and a correlation coefficient (rs) of 0.312.

Conclusion: This study provides important information about how nurses take care of COVID-19 patients in Punjab, Pakistan. It shows that it's really important for nurses to know the right things to do and to follow safety rules, especially when dealing with diseases that spread quickly such like COVID 19.