Experiences in academia throughout the second deployment of adult student nurses during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the education of student nurses in many different ways; firstly, and similarly to other faculties the seismic shift to online, remote learning, but also with the instigation of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) emergency standards. These were instigated in March 2020, and then again in January 2021 and enabled students in their final year of study to ‘opt in’ to paid placements. This study aimed to identify the experiences of student nurses studying during deployment, to ascertain differences between deployed and nondeployed students, with the additional aim of identifying what educational activities and
interventions were perceived as beneficial.

Research approaches and underlying evaluation: Literature has been published on online learning (Ali et al., 2018; Hayter & Jackson, 2020) and psychological impact of deployment (Kane et al., 2022). Investigating students’ experiences whilst on deployment provides opportunity to examine how academic work alongside placements can be supported and delivered in the future. This becomes of greater significance considering the increase of Nursing Apprenticeships nationally (UCAS, 2022). Furthermore, the balance of study and clinical placement is relevant to many Healthcare courses. This cross-sectional study invited Adult Nursing undergraduates at one HEI to complete an anonymous survey on completion of deployment in May 2021.
Implications for healthcare education: Three major themes emerged:
Personal impact
Academic impact
Social impact

Whilst 50% of students reported a positive impact of deployment, every student reported at
least one barrier to their study across all themes which included time/workload management,
study space and access to resources. Recording of online sessions and reduced travel time were the most positively rated factors throughout the deployment period.
The identification of these themes provides the opportunity to develop targeted interventions
during the delivery of programmes, to address the impact of conflicting academic and clinical
workloads for students across a range of Healthcare programmes.

References:
Ali, S., Uppal, M.A. & Gulliver, S.R. (2018) ‘ conceptual framework highlighting e-learning
implementation barriers’. Information Technology & People, 32(1), 156-180.
Hayter, M. & Jackson, D. (2020) ‘Pre‐registration undergraduate nurses and the COVID‐19
pandemic: Students or workers?’. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(17-18), 3115-16. Available
from: https://doi-org.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/10.1111/jocn.15317.
Kane, C., Wareing, M & Rintakorpi, E. (2022) ‘The psychological effects of working in the
NHS during a pandemic on final-year students: part 2’. British Journal of Nursing, 31(2), 96–
100.
UCAS (2022) ‘Next Steps: Who are the ‘future nurses’’. [Online] Available from:
https://www.ucas.com/file/563001/download?token=XP5Ik5yI.