Nurses' point of view regarding ethical challenges and related factors during the care of patients with covid-19 in medical-educational centers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, 2022

Abstract

Abstract Background: The covid-19 pandemic created the ground for many ethical challenges during patient care due to the acute shortages it created. Especially, nurses were exposed to various ethical challenges due to the nature of their work. The level of exposure of Iranian nurses to ethical challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic has not been quantitatively investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine the nurses' point of view regarding the ethical challenges created and related factors during the care of patients with covid-19 in the medical-educational centers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Methods The present descriptive and correlational study was conducted with a cross-sectional method in 1401 among 150 nurses working in Imam Reza (AS) and Sina hospitals in Tabriz. A stratified non-random sampling method was used to select the samples. The data was collected using a standard questionnaire that included moral challenges, fear scale of covid, feeling of social stigma, infection control criteria and hospital criteria for covid control. For data analysis, descriptive and analytical statistics including independent t-test, analysis of variance and multiple linear regression were used at a significance level of 0.05. Results: The findings showed that the average score of the total Ethical problems in caring for patients in this research was 38.92 out 56. The average total score of erceived risk of COVID-19 infection was 6.11 and the average total score of cognition of social stigmatization nwas 8.10, and the average score of agreement with infection control measures and perception of hospital’s measures against COVID-19 was 9.86 and 8.42, respectively. The regression results also showed that the fear of contracting covid is the only effective factor on nurses' understanding of ethical challenges. Conclusion: This research provided information about ethical chanllenges of Iranian nurses during the outbreak of Covid-19 and identified the factors that influence them. As found in this study, nurses’ ethical problems were influenced most by fear of covid-19. Therefore, it is essential that hospital managers and nurses are supported during future epidemics in order to reduce the ethical challenges of nurses in order to reduce their fear so that they can take care of people with confidence.