Introduction

Abstract

Nurses are public servants who provide needed healthcare to patients and their families across the globe. In every society, there are nurses who go to work each day to meet their professional and ethical obligations to those who are sick and in need of their expertise. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, strained this workforce leading to mental stress, exhaustion, and in some cases resignation. Many nurses accepted unknown risks from an emerging virus that cost the lives of their patients and in some instances their lives too. This book speaks to the many ethical issues that nurses confronted while working on the front lines of a global pandemic and the consequences they suffered. The book aims to provide important lessons to help us prepare for future pandemics. Each chapter addresses ethical concerns ranging from discussions on what is an acceptable risk in a pandemic to “words of wisdom” from nursing leaders on how nurses might regain the moral fortitude to move forward. We know that without nurses, there is no sustainable healthcare system; thus, this book is a tribute to their struggles for justice amidst the chaos in which they found themselves and the good that they were trying to achieve for their societies.

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2015.