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Nursing associate apprentices' experiences of caring on the frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic

02 October 2021
Volume 2 | British Journal of Child health · Issue 5

Abstract

Nurses have been on the frontline during the COVID-19 crisis, providing high-quality care and facing the challenges of the pandemic. In this article, a number of nursing associate apprentices share their experiences of being on the frontline.

The arrival of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom (UK) ripped through lives and the healthcare system, leaving a trail of immeasurable suffering and loss of life in its path. As part of the emergency response, nurses have been among those on the frontline to provide care during the pandemic crisis, being one of the largest workforces within the NHS (Buchan et al, 2019). This included children and young people's nurses, who demonstrated psychological flexibility and emotional resilience as they continued facilitating positive parenting behaviours with caregivers during COVID-19 and beyond (Coyne et al, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in maternal and newborn healthcare delivery, among other areas, as data are collated and resources evolve (Barrero-Castillero et al, 2021).

Nursing associate apprentices are among those who work in a variety of settings within the scope of their generic role (Nursing and Midwifery Council [NMC], 2018a), meaning that they had first-hand experience of the complexities and challenges involved in providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploring these patient encounters could provide invaluable lessons to inform the development of nursing practice and general future pandemic preparedness. This article provides brief accounts of frontline patient care as experienced by nursing associate apprentices at the University of Wolverhampton.

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