Training the Next Wave of Healthcare Workers amidst COVID-19

Insights from a UofM nursing student on how her education has shifted as a result of COVID-19

—By Lizzy Palo

As the COVID-19 pandemic has progressed we’ve gotten constant updates on healthcare employees working on the frontlines. We’ve seen hospitals run out of supplies and reach their maximum capacity, nurses and doctors covered head to toe in PPE, and the number of deaths continue to rise. However, we’ve had limited coverage on the perspectives of current pre-med and nursing students who must now complete their programs amidst this pandemic; do they feel more prepared to enter the workforce, wildly underprepared and overwhelmed, or even dissuaded from pursuing these careers? 

I had the pleasure of meeting with Carly Gatto, class of 2022, a current student in the University of Michigan School of Nursing. She was able to clarify these questions for me and provide insight on what the day-to-day of a typical clinical is like and how it has shifted from the last year—when the pandemic had just begun. On the days she has clinical, which is every Tuesday and every other Wednesday, she begins at 5am to make sure she has time to walk over from her central campus apartment to arrive at Michigan Medicine by 6:15am and will not end her day until around 5pm. She lives close enough that she feels comfortable walking over, but also keeps a bike on campus to use when the weather is nicer. I quickly learned that nursing students are not allowed to work with COVID-19 patients but the presence of the virus has certainly impacted the way the hospital operates and how staff members treat their resources, so much so that Gatto’s professors have told her to avoid using too many gloves because they are low on supplies.

So what does this mean for a nursing student such as herself? For one, it is now standard to always show her ResponsiBLUE app before she can begin a shift, which shows a report of daily screening for possible covid symptoms and if she has been tested recently for COVID-19 (which is a requirement); if she cannot prove that, she is not allowed to work. As well as this, she notes how much her professors and the nurses she is working with emphasize social distancing, especially from her peers. Unless they are on a big floor like Pediatrics that has many conference rooms where they can utilize the large space to discuss their days and do a case study based on what they’re learning in their corresponding lectures, they will meet on Zoom. Another large difference is staff members must wear protective glasses throughout the day and a mask provided by the hospital that is different from the masks they came in wearing. To avoid cross contamination, the hospital has also provided every room on the Pediatrics floor with its own stethoscope, even though every nurse has their own stethoscope which they are supposed to sanitize between every patient.

I was happy to hear about these added precautions, but I still wanted to know more about how the hospital was directly affected by covid and how permanent staff were responding to it. Carly mentioned that last semester she had gotten covid (most likely not from the hospital, she pointed out) and had to make up one of her clinical when they were technically over. “I went in and they were like, ‘thank God this is your last clinical because twelve of our staff members are out with covid currently,’ and that was on one floor for labor and delivery where they really needed nurses. I mean, they need nurses everywhere but they were really short staffed,” she said. 

Twelve were out, yet she notes she has talked to staff who aren’t willing to take the vaccine, and finds it interesting how many healthcare workers are very against taking it. A survey of 1,676 American adults done by the Kaiser Family Foundation even found that 29% of the respondents who worked in healthcare said they were hesitant about getting the vaccine. She associates this caution with the fact that vaccines normally take about 10-15 years to make, and the vaccines for COVID-19 have been made in less than a year. Though she knows many healthcare workers are opposed to it, she said “all of the nursing students were offered vaccines. Pretty much 90% of us have gotten it because our parents are older and everybody was really grateful to have the opportunity [to get it], so I’ve been fully vaccinated.” It was insightful to hear her reaction to healthcare workers opposed to receiving the vaccine, because if anything she felt like those who have seen it all would be more persuaded to get vaccinated, but she understands there is always a portion of people who have their reasons for not doing so. 

With these many changes and adjustments, I wondered if she felt like there was an infringement on her education, but Carly didn’t have many negative things to report. She did regret not having many opportunities to take advantage of the nursing school’s sim lab, which consists of rooms of models that are meant to resemble patients that students can practice procedures on. In regards to this she said, “One of the things I was super excited about was the opportunity where you’re given a scenario and you take care of the patient. You’re actually recorded during this and then you go over the recording with your cohort and understand what you did wrong. That’s what was really cool about this nursing school in particular—everything was so up to date and we really haven’t had the opportunity to do that because of covid.” She said that there’s two sim days per clinical now, and on the days that they have them they’re extremely helpful, but since they have to follow the guidelines of social distancing, only 8 out of her 200 student class can go at a time. 

When I asked Carly if she felt she was inadequately prepared or even turned off to the profession she didn’t hesitate in responding, “The professors are good at reminding you that you are the next wave of healthcare, and they’re big on supporting the nursing role so I feel very supported and very excited to go into the field.” She emphasized how rigorous the nursing program at the university is, explaining that she feels challenged in every class she’s taken, and the nurses and professors are amazing teachers. 

She hopes that by the time her class graduates in 2022 we will be on the heels of the pandemic, and even though it will be an awkward time to begin her career, the pandemic has “opened [her] eyes to how important it is to go into healthcare,” and prepared her even more “because the passion is even stronger to go into it.”

Featured Image: Carly Gatto in Michigan Medicine with proper PPE. Photo Credit: Carly Gatto