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

Highlights

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  Since the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been a focus on the nature and spread of the virus, as well as the impact on the acute care system. Studies have detailed the physical and psychological impacts on hospital-based health care professionals and their strategies and responses to working in health care during a pandemic. Understanding these impacts allows governments to mitigate and prevent burnout of acute health care professionals during a period of unprecedented challenge.

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  Primary health care professionals such as school nurses have an essential role as a gatekeeper of health information and strategies to prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19 in communities, especially in different school settings such as international schools and special schools where students often have intellectual disabilities. This study looks specifically at the experiences and responses of school-based primary health care professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak in Honk Kong. Interviews directly with primary health care professionals allowed first-hand discussion of these experiences and responses and the context of these.

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  Understanding how school nurses have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic enables a greater understanding of the key role of primary health care in responding to and preventing pandemics and infection rates. A significant preventative role can be found within the primary health care setting, particularly school communities and those school communities with students who are further impeded by cognitive and intellectual disabilities.

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.