Exploring the Status and Experiences of School Nurses’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Method Study

Abstract

PurposeThis study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the response status and school nurses’ experience of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic in Korea. MethodRecognizing the limitations of existing tools in capturing prolonged COVID-19 response, we divided the COVID-19 pandemic into different wave periods and adopted a mixed-methods design enrolling school nurses in elementary, middle, and high schools in Korea to gain a comprehensive view. A quantitative survey was conducted among 153 school nurses nationwide and in-depth interviews were conducted with nine, using Van Kaam’s phenomenological analysis. ResultsIn 56.9% of the cases, multiple persons in charge of COVID-19 management were not designated, and there was no significant difference in response by school level. Excessive work, coping with civil complaints, unilateral work burden, difficulties communicating with related organizations, lack of concreteness in manuals, lack of cooperation among school members, and frequent changes in guidelines were continuous difficulties encountered during the pandemic. From the in-depth interviews, we extracted 189 meaningful statements, 22 subthemes, and 8 themes. The eight themes were divided into three categories: beginning of COVID-19 response, process of response to COVID-19, and lessons learned from the COVID-19 response experience. ConclusionA specific and systematic infectious disease response manual should be established, as well as an educational and training program to strengthen the capacity of educational personnel to cope with new infectious diseases.