Ethical Challenges Facing Healthcare Workers during Pandemics (The Learned Lessons from Covid-19)

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has raised a host of ethical challenges. In Egypt, the circumstances were more complicated due to limited resources and lack of training to face crisis circumstances which increased the burden of the crisis on the health care workers (HCWs) all over the country. However, to date, there is no sufficient studies of the ethical issues that have been raised during COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt. Aim This qualitative study aims to explore the ethical challenges faced by HCWs during COVID 19 pandemic, and to discuss their related background and contributing factors in the local community. Methods The study included 34 HCWs working in 12 governmental health care facilities in different governorates in Egypt. Semi- structured interview questionnaire was used for data collection. Results The HCWs reported the following main ethical challenges that faced them throughout the provision of care for COVID-19 patients: ‘balance between their duty of care of COVID 19 patients and fear of infection’, ‘uncertainty in management of COVID 19 cases’, ‘lack of organizational support during the pandemic”, ‘rationing the scarce health care resources’, ‘social stigmatization’ and ‘psychological burden of the pandemic’. Conclusions The present study portrayed the main ethical issues and challenges faced by HCWs during the pandemic. It is mandatory for health care authorities to adopt appropriate measures to resolve these issues and increase their preparedness in the era of pandemic to handle any crisis in the future.