WS - The Impact of COVID-19 on Nurses: Compassion Fatigue and Moral Distress

The COVID-19 pandemic created stress and anxiety for staff who feared they might become infected - or worse, take the virus home to their families. Additionally, restrictions were put in place that differed from the normal day-to-day operations. It is easy to explain that these restrictions were intended to protect staff and residents. But they also put staff in new situations, ones that challenged their values, ethics, and morals. For example, a nurse caring for a terminally-ill resident who died without family due to visitation restrictions may be emotionally affected, particularly if, due to staffing constraints, the nurse was unable to sit at the bedside to be with the resident. Over a prolonged period of time, the continued exposure to these situations can take a toll on staff’s emotional and physical well-being. The key to recovery centers around resiliency and staff’s ability to heal. This 45-minute session will discuss why resiliency is important and how compassion fatigue, moral distress, and burnout impact staff’s effectiveness to deliver safe care. In addition, this session will review leadership strategies that promote a culture of resiliency in the facility to help improve the quality of care delivery and foster staff’s well-being.