Assessment of Final Year Nursing Students' Willingness and Readiness to Work With Patients With COVID-19 During the Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia faced shortages of medical supplies and healthcare workers. With a limited supply of healthcare workers, we examined the possibility of bringing final-year nursing students into COVID-19 patient care.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among final-year nursing students to assess their willingness and readiness to work with patients with COVID-19 in Indonesia. We recruited 1,028 final-year nursing students in East Java, Indonesia, during October 7-20, 2021. Data were collected using an online questionnaire designed for this study using Google Forms. Response data were extracted from Google Forms to MS Excel 2016 for analysis. We performed univariate analysis for descriptive statistics, followed by multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression to analyze the effect of independent variables on study outcomes.

Results: The characteristics of the study participants showed that most respondents were female (97.1%) and of Javanese ethnicity (75.3%). More than 90% of participants reported no chronic diseases (96.2%) and were vaccinated (81.4%). Most participants were willing to work (84.3%) and ready to work (94.4%) with patients with COVID-19. Adjusted analysis showed that sex, type of institution, ethnicity, household condition, and history of chronic diseases were independent determinants of willingness to work with patients with COVID-19. Male and private university students were significantly more willing to work with patients with COVID-19.

Conclusions: Nursing students were willing to work with patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic; however, a longitudinal study is recommended for trend analysis.