Intentions of frontline nurses regarding COVID-19 patient care: A cross-sectional study in Korea

This cross-sectional study, conducted from August to September 2020, examined nurses' stress, self-efficacy and nursing intentions when caring for COVID-19 patients and identified the predictors of nursing intentions during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 outbreak has increased nurses' role expectations and imposed a heavy social responsibility. In particular, frontline nurses are under significant stress when caring for patients during a novel epidemic because of the lack of accurate information.

A total of 232 nurses with experience in providing care for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients from seven large hospitals in three cities in Korea completed the Perceived Stress Scale, Self-Efficacy Scale and Predictive Nursing Intention Scale.

Multiple regression confirmed that completing COVID-19-related education and self-efficacy were significant predictors of nursing intentions during the current pandemic; the regression model explained 22.0% of the variance in nursing intentions.

Stress did not affect frontline nurses' nursing intentions towards COVID-19 patient care, but completing COVID-19-related education and higher self-efficacy predicted improved nursing intentions.

Nurse leaders should recognize that to improve nursing intentions during a novel infection outbreak, infection-related education should be provided and strategies to improve self-efficacy should be implemented.