• Heidi Lord, Clare Loveday, Lorna Moxham, and Ritin Fernandez.
• Centre for Research in Nursing and Health, Level 1 Research and Education Building, St George Hospital, Kogarah, NSW, Australia; Centre for Evidence Based Initiatives in Health Care: a Joanna Briggs Centre of Excellence, Wollongong, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: Heidi.Lord@health.nsw.gov.au.
• Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 2021 Feb 1; 62: 102946.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic posed and continues to pose challenges for health care systems globally, particularly to Intensive Care Units (ICU). At the forefront of the ICU are highly trained nurses with a professional obligation to care for patients with COVID-19 despite the potential to become infected. The aim of this study was to explore ICU nurses' willingness to care during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA prospective cross-sectional study to explore ICU nurses' willingness to provide care during the COVID-19 pandemic was undertaken between 25 March and 3 April 2020 at a large principal and referral teaching hospital in Sydney, NSW Australia.ResultsA total of 83 ICU nurses completed the survey. Approximately 60% reported receiving sufficient information from managers regarding COVID-19 and about caring for a patient with COVID-19. Ninety percent of nurses were concerned about spreading COVID-19 to their family. Sixty one percent of the nurses indicated that they were willing to care for patients with COVID-19. Receiving timely communication from managers was the only predictor of willingness to care among ICU nurses.ConclusionsEffective communication is a vital component during a public health emergency in order to promote nurses' willingness to care for patients in the ICU.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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