Changes in the Roles of Nurses During COVID-19 (coronavirus)

Changes in the Roles of Nurses During COVID-19 (coronavirus)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses have found themselves performing roles that they did not imagine they could execute. Nurses, as frontline healthcare professionals, have engaged in numerous activities during the pandemic across different healthcare settings including nursing homes, long-term care agencies, acute care hospitals, community-based clinics among other facilities (Shu-Ching et al., 2020). For example, in addition to providing primary care, nurses have been providing health education to patients and members of the public on the factors that increase the risk of one developing COVID-19 and how to mitigate them. These educational sessions have focused on infection control strategies such as washing hands regularly, avoiding public gatherings, and maintaining social distancing. Moreover, nurses have found themselves engaging in screening patients more than they used to do before the pandemic. They have been screening suspected cases and those who have been in isolation and quarantine for some period of time (Shu-Ching et al., 2020). These roles helped to keep incidences of COVID-19 low.