| Abstract |
Today, emergence of infectious diseases has overshadowed many health beliefs and played a great role in the history of health development. The United Nations Secretary-General has introduced “Communicable diseases” as one of the challenges of our time. Viruses can be one of the causes of contagious diseases. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, recently launched from Wuhan, China, has spread to more than two-thirds of the world, including Iran, and has reached the pandemic stage.1 In particular, COVID-19 disease further affects the healthcare sector and leads to many challenges for this important part of society.These challenges include increasing need for medical staff; increasing costs for preventive and personal protective equipment for personnel, diagnostic and laboratory costs and treatment costs; increasing the need for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and ventilators; and increasing mortality.1 In the meantime, health care professionals play an important role in managing such crises. Nurses, as the largest group of health care workers, spend more time with patients than other healthcare professionals and play an important role in the care, control and treatment of these diseases. During the epidemic of emerging diseases, all social organizations, even the patients’ family members, are distanced from him/her, and it is the duty of the medical staff to take care of the patient despite the potential health risks.2 To understand the significance of the issue, it is sufficient to know that about 50% of those who died in the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus epidemic were health workers who were somehow exposed to patients in the hospital.3 Past studies show that mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorders, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, irritability, delirium, mistrust, and even suicidal thoughts, were prevalent among nurses who cared for patients with SARS. Developed mental disorders can lead to psychological disorders, loss of appetite, fatigue, impaired ...
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