How will nursing change after COVID-19? A Ryerson nursing professor weighs in
In addition to safety and patient care, nursing students will need tools in psychology and self-care to deal with pandemics like COVID-19. Photo: iStock.
Hundreds of students graduate from Ryerson鈥檚 Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing each year. They are taught valuable lessons in safety and patient care. They learn important aspects of community advocacy and leadership. Students learn about helping people deal with unexpected events. All nursing students get some exposure to disaster training and management.
But what is it like for nurses, including Ryerson alumni, on the front lines during COVID-19?
鈥淭hey are exhausted. They are tired. They are stressed. It鈥檚 scary,鈥� said professor Corinne Hart, who practiced for many years as a public health nurse and currently teaches community health nursing practice and theory as the lead teacher for third year students.
Hart added that front line nurses are simply pushing through and going to work. 鈥淭hey are doing their jobs.鈥�
The global pandemic is presenting an interesting question as the world continues to learn from its impact: how will training for nurses change?
鈥淣urses on the front lines are being put into scary situations,鈥� said Hart. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to respond to that by helping students acquire the tools they need to be better prepared for this.鈥� Hart noted that this includes more training in how to deal with unexpected events from moral, ethical and self-care perspectives.
In terms of preparing for the workforce, nurses are taught to think critically so they can make judgements and ethical decisions.
鈥淲hat needs to happen now, is a lot more reflective and honest conversations about what to do when you鈥檙e put in scary, life-threatening, uncomfortable situations,鈥� said Hart. 鈥淣urses are already good at taking care of the physical aspects of their jobs, we鈥檙e going to have to incorporate more tools on psychology and resilience.鈥�
The importance of self-care will also need to be discussed. Hart knows that nurses have a tendency to keep going to the point where they can burn out and get sick.
While it is hard to make predictions in the middle of a global health issue, it is clear this unprecedented crisis raises awareness of what else is needed to prepare nurses for future pandemics.
鈥淲e owe it to our students to figure out what we didn鈥檛 teach enough of, and incorporate that. We owe it to the people who are going to be out there and on the front lines.鈥�