Compassion Fatigue and Ethical Attitudes in Nursing Care in Intensive Care Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses faced an increased risk of compassion fatigue and ethical concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Purpose: To evaluate compassion fatigue of ICU nurses and their ethical attitudes in care during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyze contributing factors. Methods: An exploratory cross-sectional research design was used. Results: A total of 103 ICU nurses participated. The nurses' compassion fatigue and ethical attitude scores were high. Compassion fatigue was explained by the following variables: considering resigning, receiving support for ethical decisions, willingness to work in the ICU, duration of providing activities of daily living in a shift, and number of patients per nurse. Conclusions: Compassion fatigue was high in nurses working in the ICU during COVID-19. The high level of ethical attitudes shows commitment to professional ethics and reflects the development of the nurses' professional identity. Implementation of interventions that help improve compassion fatigue among nurses is needed.