Listening to School Nurses' Voices: A Mixed Methods Study on the Continued Impact of COVID-19 on School Nursing Practice

Abstract

School closures in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic precipitated losses of critical student resources as physical, mental, emotional, and social needs escalated. Identifying the challenges, strategies, and changes in school nurse (SN) practice in Massachusetts during this pandemic is fundamental to understanding how to manage future anticipated pandemics while protecting children, communities, and SNs. The purpose of this mixed-methods descriptive study in the second year of the global pandemic was to (a) listen to SN voices through a novel online survey including the prompts of challenges, strategies, and practice changes and (b) describe the SN experience of COVID-19 response in Massachusetts schools, including identification of intent to leave school nursing. Responses were analyzed using descriptive qualitative analysis ( n  =  73). The prompts each elicited subthemes that coalesced to a cohesive theme: Finding one's way required the support of others to pave untraversed roads.