2024 Volume 69 Issue 1 Pages 87-95
Objectives: To determine the relationship between the actual response of inexperienced public health nurses to corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and their health-related quality of life and job satisfaction.
Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was conducted with 44 first to third-year inexperienced public health nurses.
Questions included their attributes, response to COVID-19, health-related quality of life (HRQOL)(SF-8), and job satisfaction (VAS). The relationship between basic attributes, response to COVID-19, and HRQOL and job satisfaction was analyzed.
Results: There were 27 valid responses (61.4%). With respect to COVID-19 responses, 66.7% of the respondents reported "consultation services" and "infection prevention," 29.6% reported "epidemiological survey," and 22.2% reported "dealing with infected persons." In peak periods compared to normal periods, a higher percentage of respondents came home and had dinner later, worked more overtime, had more holidays per month, and slept less.
Physical component summary in HRQOL was significantly different in terms of age, years of employment as a public health nurse, and whether they had experienced problems in dealing with the situation, while Mental component summary in HRQOL was significantly different in terms of their primary responsibilities (p <0.05). Job satisfaction differed significantly (p <0.05) by the presence of family members living together, affiliation, primary responsibility, and whether the patient had experience in handling epidemiological surveys.
Discussions: We found that inexperienced public health nurses had a physically and mentally taxing life at the peak of their response to COVID-19, which affected their own quality of life and job satisfaction.
