Qualifying as a Mental Health Nurse during a Pandemic (COVID-19)

Enrolling onto a nursing course was an unlikely choice for me. I’d had very little contact with medical professionals and was so deathly afraid of needles I'd avoided getting a blood test for five years. I was also incredibly dramatic if I got so much as a paper cut, finding the sight of blood dizzying . So nursing, or anything in a hospital setting really, was a career path I’d firmly ruled out as I'd figured I wouldn’t be particularly helpful.

Eventually a combination of discontent with the opportunities available after my psychology degree, naivety that mental health nurses ‘didn’t really deal with all that’ and the hope of stable career progression led me to apply for nursing.

Now, I was expecting some turbulence and surprises during my training - but I definitely never anticipated that I would be qualifying as a nurse during a worldwide pandemic.

Initially in the UK there was disbelief over the seriousness of COVID 19 which wasn’t particularly helped by our government’s unwillingness to take the outbreak seriously. I was quite cynical myself, finding it odd seeing people wearing masks and gloves at the very beginning. Thinking surely in this day and age we have nothing to worry about and that it was all an overreaction. Over time it became apparent that this was not going away and it was only going to get worse.

Needless to say all the students on our nursing course began bricking it (panicking) at this point. We were unsure whether our placements would go ahead due to the risks involved and wanting to limit human contact when the first lockdown began. In which case it would make it impossible to qualify that year. And what would we do in the meantime? I was incredibly anxious during this period, literally checking my emails a hundred times a day for any updates. There was a number of weeks we had no clue what was going on and what this meant for us.

I appreciate that these worries might seem self-indulgent at a time when many were becoming very ill, dying, completely isolated and losing employment. But we were training for a job role within healthcare and constantly seeing how overwhelmed the NHS was becoming. We were very eager to graduate and finish university but we also wanted to use the skills we had learnt to help, rather than anxiously watching the pandemic unfold feeling powerless.

Thankfully the majority of us were able to continue with our placements, going back into services we’d had experience in before so time spent having to teach us was minimised and we could hit the ground running. I already had a job offer at this point and they agreed to have me for my final consolidation placement. This was wonderful news for me as I loved (and still love) working there. Plus we were also salaried which is unheard of during traditional nursing courses while on placement.

Being paid in my last placement also had the benefit of there being a step between being a student and being a paid qualified nurse. In all honesty, I probably struggled with the adjustment to being a paid member of staff more so than becoming a qualified nurse. I can only imagine how I would’ve felt if I’d had to adjust to both at the same time!

I wish I could say I was rushed off my feet saving lives and making a huge difference during those first lockdown months. Truthfully, our service was quieter than it had been before. Community thresholds for physically seeing patients increased dramatically so less people were being referred to our service.

Initially we believed that patients were possibly finding that could manage without as much support as they thought they needed. This pattern continued for a fairly long time, months even. If you look across the media you’ll find different takes on mental health during the pandemic. Some psychologists theorise that having this collective crisis has promoted resilience whereas other research reports a surge in depression, anxiety and suicide.

It is only now, a year on from the first lockdown, that I think we are seeing the true impact of the toll this has taken on so many lives. In our service the caseload has now shot up. The hospital is often struggling for beds due in part to the isolation procedures they must enforce when someone is admitted. Which as you can imagine, can be very challenging on an acute inpatient psychiatric ward to have someone understand they must stay in their room until their swab comes back.

We have seen people who’ve reached crisis point after months of trying to home school their children crippled with depression, many of the older generation suffering terribly from social isolation. And of course, there has been a tremendous impact on the mental health of professionals themselves.

From my own perspective it has been challenging coming to grips with being a newly qualified nurse in the midst of a pandemic. At first I welcomed the lockdown, I’m a home body anyway and I was quite happy to stay in. I was still getting social contact at work. My life didn’t feel like it changed that much. It is only recently I’ve realised the impact of certain coping resources, like the gym, having been gone for a considerable time. It is difficult to carry the weight of the new responsibility whilst having less outlets. Most of our staff (and across the entire hospital) have had to self-isolate at one point or another. Some have had to multiple times, which is necessary, but also puts a strain on the whole team. There are also many students who were not so lucky to continue their placements and have missed a considerable amount of learning experience. It is difficult at this point to truly gauge the impact this has had on so many student healthcare professionals training during this time.

Post-qualifying support also went through a change. Our preceptorship programme (a year long course once a month to support newly qualifieds) was delayed and ended up entirely online. This has actually been quite problematic for a number of reasons. Firstly, the content and planned guest speakers have been greatly reduced. Secondly, as it’s all online now we do not really get to meet the other newly qualifieds on the course. There would’ve been something reassuring about all being in the same room (and same boat) as each other. Thirdly, it’s impacted on other opportunities such as being able to take bank shifts on wards. I spent two months on a ward as part of my development, however I’m not allowed to take bank shifts there for another six months as I must finish my preceptorship first. Which was delayed in the beginning. Incredibly frustrating.

Overall it is quite hard to measure the true impact the pandemic has had on my qualifying experience as I have never qualified at any other time. However I feel certain in saying that it hasn’t made it any easier (except for actually being paid, that was nice!). I’m appreciative of being one of the lucky ones who was still able to complete my training on time and truthfully, I haven’t missed out on much considering the whole situation.

Incase you were wondering since the first paragraph… I am completely over my dizziness with blood and needles. Which was quite a remarkable thing to overcome but I’ve shown myself again and again over these past months that I’m capable of far more than I ever thought. Despite never thinking before that I could become a nurse, it has been the best decision that I’ve ever made, even if I did qualify in the middle of a pandemic. It’s been a unique experience and I’m so proud to say I was working for the NHS during this historic period of time.