NURSES’ VULNERABILITY TO COVID-19 AND WORKPLACE SAFETY DURING THE PANDEMIC AT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HOSPITALS OF ISLAMABAD

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease 2019, commonly known as COVID-19, since its emergence in 2019, has brought various challenges to healthcare professionals including nurses. It has posed serious threats to their life and health ultimately making them vulnerable to the deadly infections. The current research investigates the nurses’ vulnerability to COVID-19 in both public and private hospitals of Islamabad, and the level of safety measures employed by the hospital management to protect them. The research method used in the study was quantitative with the sample size of 200 respondents, including male and female from public and private hospitals of Islamabad. The study found that 56% nurses of both public and private hospitals were provided adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). While only 36% of the respondents were competent in terms of having knowledge about COVID-19, among them, 75% nurses attained that knowledge from hospital trainings. Surprisingly, 56% of them did not have adequate testing capacity at their respective hospitals. Therefore, the research concludes that the workplace safety of nurses is highly compromised, making them vulnerable to this infectious disease. This is high time for the hospital management to strengthen the testing and diagnostic capacity for the nurses and make surveillance and contact tracing mandatory at all entry points of the hospitals in order to reduce their vulnerability.