COVID-19 & Personal Beliefs/Values

COVID-19 & Personal Beliefs/Values

The COVID pandemic has had a tremendous effect on the worldview surrounding my current nursing work. While many of the realizations focus on the imperativeness of nursing it also exposed areas that could need improvement in the future. Therefore, the values I had placed before are now replaced by new ones and new avenues for progression are made clear. In this paper I will be exploring how COVID-19 influenced my values and personal beliefs while offering an example.

Personal Beliefs/Values

Due to the pandemic, more awareness is being brought to the crucial work that is done by nurses. This has highlighted certain aspects of the work we do as nurses and how we could further shape the way our care is delivered. While new information was being given surrounding the possible medical consequences of having COVID, I found a new-found value in relying on evidence-based information. Throughout this period, it was easy to fall into the pit of misinformation. However, we as nurses must use our critical thinking and examine the evidence to then apply it in our work. This would result in an inability to comprehend “the risk of being infected.” (Fernandez et al, 2020) Our patients rely on us to provide them with up-to-date information that is based on clinical evidence. This is how we can truly provide the highest standard of patient care. This newfound belief and important value have only been more pronounced ever since COVID had started. Importance can be greater appreciated when recognizing the need of the nursing staff to “meet the exponential increase” (Smith et al, 2022) laid by COVID.

Example

             The case for establishing a strong reliance on evidence-based practice is most notable when having experience seeing the problem. Multiple instances at work I have seen my coworkers engaging in passing information that is not academically accurate. I had a fellow RN who could not answer COVID questions when asked of how the virus works within the body. Because of these moments I make sure to keep up to date with the latest from the CDC and academic sources.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the pandemic has opened my eyes to what values should be enhanced and where beliefs should be derived from. The need for nurses to educate themselves when a global disaster has been highlighted by countless instances where critical thinking is needed. Data that can be verified clinically is vital to continuing to provide better patient care and lead to better patient outcomes.

References

Fernandez, R., Lord, H., Halcomb, E., Moxham, L., Middleton, R., Alananzeh, I., & Ellwood, L. (2020). Implications for COVID-19: A systematic review of nurses' experiences of working in acute care hospital settings during a respiratory pandemic. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 111, 103637.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2020.103637 (Links to an external site.)

Smith, S. J., & Farra, S. L. (2022). The impact of covid-19 on the regulation of nursing practice and education. Teaching and Learning in Nursing: Official Journal of the National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing, 17(3), 302–305.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2022.01.004