The pandemic has led to shortages of nurses anywhere in the world including in South Carolina. To be able to fill in the lack of nurses in South Carolina, they have contracted travel nurses to work in that area. The demand for travel nurses in South Carolina is still continuously increasing and takes to travel nursing jobs.
What is the Impact of Covid-19 on the Nursing Industry in South Carolina?
Due to the pandemic, the nursing industry in South Carolina has been affected and nurse organization has been doing their best to be able to address issues that arise due to the pandemic that hit the world:
Educating Health Workers on New precautionary Measures
Since COVID -19 is a new variant of the virus health workers should be educated on how to handle it and how to take precautions. Social distancing and wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) are added to protect them better. This adjustment affects the flow of their duties and they have to be able to adjust to it.
Utilizing the Technology in Delegating Tasks and Helding Conferences
To avoid contracting the virus the use of technology has been implemented in the nursing industry. Giving instructions and holding conferences have been done through video calls using different online platforms. This too is new to other health workers and getting used to it takes time to be able to master how to follow the protocols via online seminars and meetings. Nurses have continuous training to get updated with the new changes in medical technology and learning this online can be challenging. Telemetry as well has to be learned by almost all nurses to be able to perform their duties despite not being physically present in the health care facility.
Adjusting ways of Learning for Nursing Students
Students taking up a nursing course or even other medical fields have to make adjustments since face-to-face contact is prevented to avoid the spreading of the virus. Medical students have to learn via an online platform and this has been challenging on their part. The pace of learning has also been adjusted to hasten their preparation for becoming practicing nurses. Since the demands of nurses are soaring high, the nursing students are challenged to learn faster to be able to aid in giving solutions to the shortages of nurses.
Some Nursing Students Were Allowed to Join the Workforce
To get more manpower the nursing industry has allowed some nursing students to join the workforce and practice what they have learned under the supervision of registered nurses. This has helped in meeting the demands of the workforce in the medical field.
What is The response of South Carolina to the Nurse shortage?
The changes that are needed have been implemented by the nursing industry. This includes:
- Using technology to keep the workforce connected instead of setting meetings and conferences to talk about issues to resolve.
- Advancing the way of learning for upcoming nurses so they can contribute to bridging the demands for nurses at the soonest possible time.
- Changing the ways how to implement simulation for nursing students since face-to-face methods are restricted. This has been a big challenge since doing actual demos and internships can be easier for them to get hands-on experience on what they will be doing once they become registered nurses.
- Allowing students to contribute to the workforce to be able to assist in the rising needs of nurses to meet the demands of the healthcare facilities.
COVID-19’s impact on nursing shortages in South Carolina has brought challenges and the nursing industry has been forced to adapt to changes that are needed to be able to stay afloat despite the issues that have arisen during the pandemic season. The shortage of nurses has made them decide how to be able to address the issue at the soonest possible time. It might have been challenging since there are a lot of things to implement in a very short time but South Carolina has tried its best to be able to give solutions to the issues that arise due to COVID-19. COVID-19 has a very big impact on the nursing industry and since it is unexpected the nursing association has to make amends to meet the demands of nurses in South Carolina.