“The World is Stopped, but We Keep Going”: Nurses’ Processes of Emotional Labor During the SARS-COVID19 Pandemic

Background Under normal conditions, nursing requires a substantial amount of emotional labor. Past studies have found that nurses hide their emotions in order to embody a professional demeanor and display competence. There is little known about the CoVID pandemic’s impacts on nurses’ emotional labor, so this study examines nurses’ experiences during the pandemic and analyses the pandemic’s effects on the nurses’ emotional labor. Results After interviewing 15 CoVID nurses, I conclude that a majority (13/15 nurses) of the study participants felt fearful of their situation, yet they felt compelled to go to work because their duty to care for their patients. The nurses were only able to make the decision to go to work and fulfill their perceived duty because they were suppressing their fears. Conclusion I conclude that the nurses perform a slightly different version of emotional labor than what has been conceptualized by Hochschild (1979). In this process of emotional labor, the suppression of feelings forms the main action that is taken to meet external expectations that include a healthcare worker’s duty to care. The implications of this study suggest that nurses prioritize work over mental and physical health while not having the support systems needed to help them when they need it.