Emotional implications for nurses' health during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Abstract

Considering the current global situation, marked by major public health crises and, more recently, the pandemic caused by COVID-19, the present work sought to gather information and research related to the challenges of nursing professionals in the face of the pandemic. The measures adopted to deal with the pandemic, such as social detachment, quarantine, and isolation, are extremely difficult situations within the professional context. For health professionals causally linked to the care of patients infected with the COVID-19 virus, there are some stressors that can lead the professional to extreme physical and mental stress. Work overload and pressure during comprehensive care is observed at all levels of patient care. It is just as necessary to take care of the mental health as well as the physical health of the frontline professionals in the pandemic. The characteristics that led us to choose nursing as a profession are infinitely important at this time, a period in which patient care is a protective factor not only in the health of those who seek care, but for the whole of society. Finally, questions related to the psychological part of the nursing professional will be presented in the face of the pandemic situation of the new SARS-CoV-2.