Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing (한국보건간호학회지)

Korean Society of public Health Nursing (한국보건간호학회)
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Practical experiences of public health center nurses in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploration of nursing competencies

보건소 간호사의 코로나19 팬데믹 초기단계의 실무경험: 간호역량 탐색

  • Yu, Jung-Ok (College of Nursing, Dong-A University) ;
  • June, Kyung-Ja (Department of Nursing, School of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University) ;
  • Song, Yeon-Yi (Department of Nursing, Chungcheong University) ;
  • Choi, Seon-Im (Department of Nursing, Mokpo National University) ;
  • Kim, Hye-Jin (Department of Nursing, Catholic Kwandong University)
  • Received : 2023.06.20
  • Accepted : 2023.08.03
  • Published : 2023.08.31
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Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the characteristics and competencies of practice experienced by public health center nurses(PHNs) during the early response phase of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: PHNs were recruited from public health centers(PHC) in ten cities in Korea, using purposive sampling. They participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews from December 21, 2020, to February 18, 2021. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Three themes and nine categories were drawn from the findings. The three themes that emerged from the data analysis were as follows: 'Handling expanding work scope and overwhelming workload beyond prepared competencies, willing to go anywhere.', 'Performing tasks of cooperation and communication required in the disaster management administrative system.', 'Demonstrated proficiency in clinical nursing practices, but recognized the need for further development of leadership and administrative capabilities.' Conclusions: The experiences of the subjects' have implications for the development of content for community nursing education that cultivates basic competencies to respond to real pandemic situations during undergraduate education. It is proposed that it would be necessary to establish a support system for developing specialized competencies in public health nursing.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

본 연구는 동아대학교 교내 연구비 지원에 의해 수행되었음.

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