Health Care Workers' Attitudes Toward Patients With COVID-19

Early in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, before the routine availability and/or use of personal protective equipment, health care workers were understandably concerned. Our aim was to explore health care workers' attitudes toward patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 at the time of the nation's first surge in 2 highly affected hospitals in New York.

We performed a cross-sectional, self-administered survey study of health care workers. The survey consisted of 17 multiple-choice questions including demographic information, ethics, and willingness to care for patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Subgroup analyses were performed using the Fisher exact test.

Of 340 health care workers approached, 338 (99.4%) consented to the survey; 163 (48.7%) were registered nurses and 160 (48.3%) lived with children. While 326 (97.3%) workers were concerned about putting their family/coworkers at risk of infection after caring for a patient with SARS-CoV-2, only 30 (8.9%) were unwilling to treat a patient with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Registered nurses were more likely than other health care workers to think it was ethical to refuse care for SARS-CoV-2-infected patients, worried more often about contracting infection, and felt that SARS-CoV-2 added to their stress level (P = .009, P = .018, P < .001, respectively). A similar contrast was seen when comparing workers who live with children with those who did not.

Levels of stress and concern were extremely high. In spite of that, the overwhelming majority of workers were willing to treat patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Registered nurses and health care workers who live with children were more likely to think it is ethical to refuse care for SARS-CoV-2-infected patients.