PULSE
PANDEMIC EDITION
Nursing
MATT TOWNSEND
MILLY HOWLETT Osteopathy Student on placement at the Health and Wellbeing Academy
Final Year Nursing Student
IN A PANDEMIC In the last year, the UK nursing profession has seen one of its biggest ever challenges. Nursing staff and students from Swansea University have responded to the Coronavirus global pandemic by supporting the NHS and the public health of its community in any way they can.
“Working in the osteopathy clinic during the height of the pandemic has been inspiring. There have been many challenges for both students and staff in adapting our practice to ensure we can continue giving the best quality care to our patients. It has given me great pride in knowing that patients have had the confidence to continue attending treatment with us as student osteopaths in such uncertain circumstances, placing their safety into our hands (literally).
“If COVID-19 has taught me anything it is that resilience is a fundamental part of our role as student nurses. Nobody envisaged that we would be involved in a global pandemic. I’m not going to hide from the fact that I did feel a little anxious about what the placement would hold but I really wanted to turn the situation into a positive and use it as an opportunity to learn and develop.”
This pandemic has illustrated the ability of osteopaths to move towards serving as allied healthcare professionals in Wales. I am incredibly grateful to have been a very small part of the much wider national effort to continue delivering patient care to those who have needed it during these times and hope to continue doing so long after this pandemic ends.”
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Following the introduction of the Nursing and Midwifery Council Emergency Education Standards in April 2020, more than 700 nursing students opted to undertake extended placements in clinical practice with Welsh health boards and other healthcare providers. Since then, many more have joined them on clinical placements where they work on the frontline alongside nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Staff from the Department of Nursing designed and delivered training for health board staff to upskill and support them in their efforts against COVID-19. After hearing, how difficult it is for patients to stay in touch with their families with COVID-19 preventing hospital visits six first year Adult Nursing students, from our St David’s Park Campus, raised more than £2,400 to buy additional iPads for the Sunderland Ward at South Pembrokeshire Hospital in Pembroke Dock. Alumnus Chelsie Hart, who works as a Senior Nurse at the St George’s University Hospital in London, was named Neurosciences ‘Nurse of the Year’ after volunteering for a role on the ICU Covid wards. Several Nursing Lecturers are working in their spare time to administer COVID-19 vaccines.
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
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REA PUGH- DAVIES
Nursing Student
STATE-OF-THE-ART TEACHING AND RESEARCH FACILITIES GAIN ON-CAMPUS PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE
Professor Jayne Cutter, Head of Department for Nursing, said:
“I hope to inspire people, to show that no matter what grade or role they are anyone can make a difference. Even the smallest of things can make the biggest difference to our patients. Sometimes it takes a little thought to make things better.” REAWASNAMEDTHEROYALCOLLEGE OF NURSING’S 2020 BEST NURSING SUPPORT WORKER FOR HER FOCUS ONHERPATIENTS
“WE ARE INCREDIBLY PROUD OF THE WAY IN WHICH OUR STAFF AND STUDENTS HAVE REACTED TO THE PANDEMIC. FROM EXTENDING THEIR PLACEMENTS TO QUICKLY DEVELOPING NEW SKILLS, OUR STUDENTS SHOWED HOW DEDICATED THEY ARE TO IMPROVING THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITY, DESPITE THE RISKS TO THEIR OWN HEALTH AND SAFETY”
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BENEFIT THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
WORK WITH REAL PATIENTS USING TOP-OF-THE-RANGE EQUIPMENT
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swansea.ac.uk/hwa
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