A qualitative exploration of the experiences of school nurses during COVID-19 pandemic as the frontline primary health care professionals

Regina L T Lee; Sancia West; Anson C Y Tang; Ho Yu Cheng; Connie Y Y Chong; Wai Tong Chien; Sally W C Chan

doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2020.12.003

A qualitative exploration of the experiences of school nurses during COVID-19 pandemic as the frontline primary health care professionals

Nurs Outlook. 2021 May-Jun;69(3):399-408. doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2020.12.003. Epub 2020 Dec 9.

Authors

Regina L T Lee¹, Sancia West², Anson C Y Tang³, Ho Yu Cheng⁴, Connie Y Y Chong⁴, Wai Tong Chien⁴, Sally W C Chan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Health and Medicine, School of Nursing and Midwifery, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: Regina.L.Lee@newcastle.edu.au.
² Faculty of Health and Medicine, School of Nursing and Midwifery, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.
³ School of Nursing, Tung Wah College, Hong Kong, China.
⁴ The Nethersole School of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁵ UON Singapore, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia.

Abstract

Background: It is widely acknowledged that the experiences of frontline primary health care professionals during COVID-19 are important to understand how they respond and act under situations of pandemic as the gatekeepers in primary health care system. School nurses are primary health care professionals who lead health care in schools and practice in a holistic manner to address the needs of schoolchildren and school personnel. There are rising mental health concerns of frontline health care professionals with anxiety and panic disorders, somatic symptoms, and feeling isolated. No studies use a qualitative study approach to document community frontline school nursing professionals' experiences and challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, understanding the school nurses' experiences and challenges to fight against COVID-19 in the communities is important.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the experiences of school nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong.

Methods: A qualitative study design adopted the principles of thematic analysis. Nineteen school nurses were recruited to participate in individual semistructured interviews and shared their roles and responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings: Three themes indicated the school nurses' expand professional responsibilities to fight against COVID-19 emerged from the data analysis. These were "Managing Stress," "Navigating the School Through the Pandemic," and "Raising the Profile of the School Nurse Professional," DISCUSSION: Findings reveal the important role of school nursing professionals in minimizing the community-wide risk posed by pandemics and the need to integrate them into planning and implementation of school health policies and guidelines in the primary health care system. This essential role in schools is necessary to assess, implement, monitor, prevent, and reduce the spread of virus in school communities and to minimize the burden to and extra health care resources utilized in the acute care setting during COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Challenges; Experiences; Qualitative study; School nursing roles.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19*
China
Female
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Nurse's Role / psychology*
Primary Health Care*
Qualitative Research
School Health Services*
Stress, Psychological / psychology