Background: Safety measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated universities to reorganise teaching to accommodate the students' needs, including nursing students who had been called back into clinical practice to support front-line nursing.
Purpose: To describe the experiences of post-graduate students in nursing sciences (experienced in clinical nursing) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Method: This qualitative descriptive study took place at a Swiss University delivering masters and doctoral programmes in nursing sciences. Participants were post-graduate students enrolled in masters and doctoral programmes. All current students were invited by email to participate in three focus groups, which were recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results: Thirteen students participated, with a majority who had been called back into clinical practice. Four themes were identified: Challenges of caring for patients during the coronavirus pandemic, Challenges of being a student during the pandemic, Resilience amid the difficulties, and Recognition of the Clinical Nurse Specialist competencies.
Conclusions: Our results showed that amid the challenges, post-graduate nursing students demonstrated high leadership skills, resilience, and a tremendous sense of professional duty, where patients' and families' best interest remained their main concerns. Educators and nurse administrators need to acknowledge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on post-graduate nurses, caught in the tension between their academic career aspirations and duty of care to patients, families, and the healthcare system.
Keywords: COVID-19; Experience; Nursing; Pandemic; Postgraduate; Qualitative.
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