How Best Online Nursing Courses Can Prepare You to Win Covid-19 Healthcare Challenges

Are you interested in taking a nursing assistant course to join the UK healthcare system? Or are you looking into the best online nursing courses that will assist with your career in nursing? Read on to understand how the pandemic has created a necessity for well-trained nursing professionals.

COVID-19 has had an impact on the lives and health of over a million individuals worldwide. This overwhelms the healthcare systems of nations across the globe. Also, it impacts healthcare workers like nurses fighting on the front lines to save the lives of coronavirus infected individuals.

The dawn of the pandemic has triggered a significant requirement for healthcare professionals from all medical backgrounds. However, the need for well trained and qualified nurses has hit a new high since Covid-19. 

Nurses make up the majority of the NHS staff, and they are among the first to respond during times of crisis. In addition, the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS) has stated that the number of applications coming in for nursing courses increased by 32% in 2020. This rise in demand for people interested in joining the profession shows the growing need for nurses in the community after the Covid-19 crisis. In addition, it portrays how the nurses in the healthcare system have displayed their roles.

The Role of A Nurse

Nurses have a critical role in both the local and global communities. Also, they are on the front lines every day, caring for patients. In addition, they observe what works and what to do differently to give more effective and efficient treatment during patient care.

Nurses are vital in managing the present Covid-19 health crisis because they serve as a key connection between the patient and the rest of the medical team. Also, they spend their entire shift with their patients. Through evaluation and critical thinking, they can detect small changes in their patients that may signal decompensation, worsening, or health improvement.

They can predict the physical reaction of a person due to a medical condition. Therefore, nurses communicate the results of their evaluation to doctors. In turn, they can decide whether respiratory therapy is required, analyse the patient’s reaction to medical treatments, and educate patients while also offering a sympathetic ear or a comforting touch. Therefore, in terms of professional demand, a nurse is always guaranteed a job.

How Nursing Courses can Help Professional Development in Nurses During Covid-19

Nursing Courses can Prepare Nurses to Multi-Skill

After COVID-19, a nurses’ role, duties, and demands have expanded significantly. Nurses are required to multi-skill at present more than they ever have. It’s not simply a matter of refining existing skills; they must master completely new skills to handle the surge of patients and demands following the pandemic. Many nurses are now dealing with new protective equipment regulations, social distancing, and the need to isolate staff, among other things.

How to multi-skill?

Nurses must acquire new skills – and learn them fast – in a number of areas. This applies to speciality fields such as mental health and disease control, clinical facilitation, and healthcare administration.

Nurses can learn multi-skilling in multiple ways, including on the job, training or formal professional development nursing courses. However, one thing is clear. With a continued focus on reducing contact, online learning will be the future— both in and out of health care settings.

Most nursing courses are aware of the requirements brought about after the pandemic situation. Therefore, they train the nurses and nursing assistants to multi-skill accordingly on an online platform.

The Emphasis on Effective Communication

COVID-19 has emphasised the importance of communication in the nursing profession. In addition, the interaction with patients and with each other and physicians has changed vastly since Covid-19 presented its challenges. It has increased healthcare workers’ awareness of teamwork and collaboration with the more extensive healthcare system.

Face masks obscure facial emotions, and many people are only now realising how essential facial expressions are as communication cues. Patients find it difficult to interpret a nurse’s facial expressions due to the mask. Therefore nurses must come up with other methods to convey information compassionately.

Nurses will have to develop new and meaningful methods to include family if visiting restrictions remain in place in the future. They must learn to adapt and include family members and carers via digital platforms such as video conferencing whilst treating their patients. In addition, the healthcare system has expanded telehealthcare facilities since the pandemic.

The good news is, modern nursing courses focus on the communication aspect of the nursing profession. Therefore, more emphasis is given to developing these skills during nursing education.

More Focus on Mental Health

COVID-19 will have a wide range of effects on everyone, especially those in our ‘at risk’ population, such as the elderly, domestic abuse victims, and those with addiction disorders.

Therefore, nurses can benefit greatly from learning more about mental health. In addition, it prepares students to assist a wide range of patients in several healthcare settings, including hospitals, aged care facilities, mental health institutions, and the community.

The current nursing courses focusing on continuing professional development include course units that address patients’ mental health issues. So, nurses are better prepared to face the challenges that arise when patients are challenged psychologically amidst the pandemic. In addition, it helps them to be more understanding and empathise with the patients and their families.

Nursing Courses at 1Training

1Training offers some of the best online nursing courses that are comprehensive and flexible. If you plan to kickstart your career as a nursing assistant, we provide CAN classes online. If your focus is on paediatric or end of life care, you can select from accredited courses in our institution. Furthermore, if you are interested in equipping yourself with some essential first-aid techniques, 1Training has first-aid care courses covering first-aid in detail and in-depth. Also, there are several courses offering knowledge in understanding the mental health of specific patients, which could benefit immensely during the current Covid-19 crisis.

If you work in the field of healthcare or planning to work in healthcare, we recommend you read Benefits of Psychology Courses for Healthcare Professionals to enhance your knowledge on the subject area.