Mental health and moral injury among nurses: practical self-compassionate care to alleviate the psychological impact of COVID-19

Social support among nurses and medical staff can assist with self-efficacy, sleep quality, degrees of anxiety and stress

Over the past 12 months, due to the battle against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 disease, the NHS has seen an historic transformation, the like of which it has not seen in its entire 72 years of existence. This has drastically accelerated the disparity of mental health within the healthcare sector (World Health Organization (WHO), 2020). Many aesthetic nurses, doctors and dentists have made, and continue to make, a vital contribution to the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic, while others may have continued to treat patients therapeutically or within the scope of medical pathways set out by the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP, 2020) and the remainder may have stopped practice. Uniting each route will present a familiar image of certain uncertainty, unpreparedness, rapid planning and pre-emptive anxiety of the unknown.