Image from: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-during-emergencies/food-safety-and-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many changes, but for the better. It allowed me to reflect on my purpose in life. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, I might have never learned what nurses do, which brought me to this career path. In other words, I may have never found my true passion. During my first day of clinical, I saw how difficult it could be for nurses, and the resilience needed. It can be stressful with the workload and nurse shortage. From a global perspective, it showed how nurses are willing to risk their own lives to help others.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted me both positively and negatively. It exacerbated the challenges I was managing due to lockdowns. In 2019, I had two surgeries on my ankle, forcing me to adapt to a new normal. I was told not to do many different exercises, which was a drastic departure from my normally active lifestyle. When things were getting better for my ankle, the gyms shut down. It made it difficult to do the physical therapy exercises provided. It worsened the pain in my ankle and brought misery to other areas. It emphasized the importance of self-care, which has been brought up in nursing school several times. I’ve always viewed self-care an essential aspect of life, but it’s drastically crucial as nurses. If you can’t take care of yourself, then it makes it challenging to take care of others. The challenges tested my resilience by forcing myself to adapt to different forms of therapy I could do at home. I started doing more meditation and yoga exercises, which improved my sleep. When walking, I began to listen to podcasts, that allowed me to maintain a positive mindset. When it comes to self-care, I’ve adopted the eight dimensions of wellness: social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, and occupational. Through quarantine, I noticed how the pain had affected all aspects of my wellness which can impact mental health. My resilience was rechallenged when we had to start the first semester of nursing school online.
I live with my family in a house of ten people. It was more complicated when I didn’t have proper study space or the fear of not getting my parents or grandmother sick. The school was my second home, and not having access to it affected me. I was looking forward to playing intramural sports, as I missed out on it the year before due to surgery. It was challenging to push through being uncomfortable, but I understand that’s how growth occurs. Asides from self-care and resilience, the pandemic had me realize how short life is. People around you won’t always be there, and that’s how life works. It’s essential to be compassionate and caring daily. It’s necessary to have a balance, like the eight dimensions of wellness states.
Beyond the logistical issues of adapting to distance learning, the pandemic’s impact on nursing students would most likely interrupt their development, but it depends on the student. Many sites have closed off nursing students from their clinical rotations or limited it. With less hands-on experience, it’ll necessitate longer training post-graduation to be comfortable as a nurse. With resilience in mind, many students can also remain proactive by asking themselves, “what can I do to be better prepared?” Many new graduates can take advantage of online learning, such as the flipped classroom, to be more knowledgeable. With technological advancements, I feel as though lectures taught online can sometimes be an advantage. Students can learn at their own pace and time. With flipped classrooms, it allows for higher-level thinking in class.
The current public health debates have shown systemic health and social disparities in the United States, such as discrimination, healthcare access and utilization, occupation, education, income, and housing. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the coronavirus affects more people of color, which are people typically working jobs that have an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19 (CDC, 2020). They’re usually people who weren’t able to complete high school leading to acceptance issues for college. Without further education, most of them aren’t able to get higher-paying jobs, which leads to many minorities working multiple jobs. With the excessive workload and stress, sickness is inevitable. If these workers were to get sick, most of them don’t have insurance or could afford a sick day (CDC, 2020). It can lead to getting others sick, or a worsening illness, which ends up putting more stress on hospitals and patients. Due to poor income, many may end up homeless or share housing with many individuals. Crowded housing conditions have shown to spread illnesses more easily to those within their household, especially those immunocompromised (CDC, 2020). Nurses need to have leadership capabilities to advocate for such patients, even if the odds are against them. Nurses play a role by acknowledging their own subconscious biases and try to maintain an unconditional positive regard. They can have a significant impact on primary prevention by encouraging and empowering individuals and communities to protect themselves with evidence-based practice. Before the pandemic, I thought nurses only cared for the patient’s activities of daily living. My understanding of what nurses do has tremendously grown since the start of the pandemic. It’s encouraged me to be the best I can be and to grow continuously.
The pandemic has shown that it’s not just racial and ethnic minority groups that have been affected by the pandemic, but also elders. Over the summer, there were several interprofessional collaborative events. During a session, a group of older adults discussed many challenges they’ve been facing, but the three big ones mentioned were technology, isolation, and anxiety. Many older adults have smartphones or other platforms but don’t know how to use it properly. A person told the story of a friend who has a smartphone but only makes calls with it. Not being able to use technologies available properly can make it difficult for people to communicate with friends or family during a pandemic. Older folks usually at home alone feel even more isolated. The isolation can cause mental, physical, and emotional issues.
On the other hand, the pandemic has expanded the widespread use of telemedicine. Telemedicine is more cost-efficient and allows flexibility for the patient to be seen whenever and wherever. In the case of the pandemic, older adults wouldn’t have the risk of contracting COVID-19 by leaving their homes. Many older adults also have hip fractures or other illnesses that make it difficult for them to be mobile, so it can make it convenient for them that way too. Nurses can play a role by teaching older adults or other caregivers how to use it so that they can take advantage and by monitoring equipment.
Despite the personal and professional challenges that COVID-19 has brought to me, professionals, and those in the world, I’m thankful. It has taught me to realize my capabilities and the ability to adapt. It has made healthcare disparities evident, which shows room for improvement. It has also demonstrated how far we’ve come with technology that has allowed us to find a promising vaccine. For those around the world, I believe it’s shown that nothing is more valuable than one’s health. I think many more people will continue to strive to maintain wellness.
References:
Centers for Disease Control. (2020, July 24). Health equity considerations and racial and ethnic minority groups. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html
