Zeitschrift für fortgeschrittene Praktiken in der Krankenpflege

Resilience in Covid-19 Pandemic: A Silvery Voice of Nurses

Abstract

Lalitha Rosali, Supriya Mane

Health is treasured as a national asset. Health care professionals are considered responsible for savoring the life of the citizens. In healthcare systems, nurses have an integral role in the preventive, promotive, and curative health of all. Preserving health seems to be a non-stop struggle and the resilience of nurses are the road map for the overall care management of a pandemic. As 2021 international nurses day awaits us, we seek to show what nursing is today, how nursing will look into the future as well as how the profession will transform the next stage of healthcare. The past year has been one of enormous turbulence and upheaval. Nobody has been left untouched by the impact of the global pandemic, and a great change has been forced upon us. Nurses are the primary workforce in healthcare systems and are central to the care, cure, and wholly management of a pandemic [1]. From the responses of many Health care workers, having sailed the sea of ‘death’ of their families, friends, and colleague to the pandemic monster Covid-19, they continue to give their angelic smile, soft touch, and soothing words masking aside their pain and march as front line warriors to serve humanity. The secret of their warrior march is the “spirit of resilience”. So, demonstrating resiliency doesn't necessarily mean that you have not suffered difficulty or distress. It is the ability to resist being affected or to recover readily from setbacks and adversity. Fundamentally while health is considered a national asset, there are many different challenges the nurses face with stress-causing burnout. In January 2021, [2] the ICN drew the world’s attention to the evidence showing mental health issues and psychological impact on nurses as a result of responding to the covid-19 pandemic which has brought the world to its knees. This situation is mass traumatizing and risks, damaging the nursing profession for generations to come. ICN estimated a burn out of 13 million nurses by 2030 [3] Can we as healthcare professionals rewrite this estimate by being resilient? Resilience is what gives people the psychological strength to cope with stress and hardship. Psychologists believe that resilient individuals are better able to handle adversity and rebuild their lives after a struggle. Another important characteristic of resilience is inner energy, and life power to help an individual persists. A resilient nurse is competent, enveloped with a sense of humor, optimism, coping strategy, spirituality, and hope. Besides the personal values and qualities of nurses, the environment plays a crucial role and familiarizes imperative features to enhance resilience. It is highly important to build a potentially stress-free work environment like that of workplace spirituality. Workplace spirituality (2009), is about individuals finding a sense of oneness and togetherness in an organization as a whole, having compassion towards others, experiencing a mindful inner consciousness in the search of meaningful work that enables wholeness and works beyond payments and performance. This environment necessities to have supportive relationships, positive role models in this environment, and increasing job satisfaction with ample time for distressing: as improving individual characters, organizing the work environment, and increasing social support sources. Such a prepared plan of personal attention and care will eliminate both physical and mental problems [4]. Our nursing history provides opportunities to reflect on our resilience and future contributions to healthcare. The covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly tests our professional resilience. One thing which the COVID-19 pandemic has proved to the world is that when nurses lead, we see positive results. Frontiering such brave tasks are seen as a pinnacle of triumph for the resilient nursing fraternity. As the future remains unknown, it is important to appreciate nurses' and nursing professions’ contributions to past, present, and future healthcare delivery and how our contributions reaffirm our professional resilience. As Florence nightingale said, “Unless we are making progress in our nursing every year, every month, every week, take my word for it we are going back.” The best way to build resilience is to communicate well, increase a sense of control, know the facts accurately, remind self of coping strategies, connect with other disciplines [5]. With the words of Henry Ward Beecher I conclude, “Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient to everybody else.” Trust me resilience at work is a must. For resilience is the ability to bounce back or cope successfully despite substantial adversity [6]. Can we spread a ray of hope? A hope of resilience?