An Examination of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Job Satisfaction and Emotional Well-Being of ICU Nurses

Healthcare systems have been demonstrably altered because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Resources were stretched and patient conditions deteriorated on a scale previously unseen, leaving nurses at the forefront to face the adversities brought about by the pandemic. In this study, a questionnaire was utilized to better understand how COVID-19 has impacted the stress level, resilience/well-being, moral distress, job satisfaction/enjoyment, practice environment, and intent to remain in the nursing profession of nursing alums from East Tennessee State University. This study focused on a subset of nurses working in critical care, to consider the impact that the pandemic had on ICU nurses’ emotional well-being and job enjoyment. This study collected general demographics and information regarding how each participant’s work was impacted as a result of COVID-19. The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) questionnaire, Job Enjoyment Scale (JES), and Professional Quality of Life (Pro-QOL) scales were also leveraged to gain an understanding of the participants’ perspectives on their work and mental situations. The results showed that critical nurses generally answered more negatively on the PES-NWI, JES, and ProQOL scales. The study concludes that ICU nurses have lower emotional well-being and job enjoyment than nurses in general and may have been more greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic