Nursing Students As Workforce Extenders: An Evidence-Based- Pandemic Education-Innovation: Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: The recent COVID-19 pandemic severely damaged healthcare systems worldwide, exposing the world’s emergency preparedness and response capacity. The nursing workforce has faced increased new challenges recently, particularly in influent nations. The global shortage of the nursing workforce emphasizes the urgent need to develop a flexible environment to rebuild and support exhausted human resources.

Aims: This systematic review aimed to discover the outcomes associated with deploying nursing students as workforce eextenders with particular attention to their perceived benefits and losses.

Methods: The principal researcher conducted an online search on CINAHL, PubMed, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane Library to retrieve relevant studies that satisfied the predetermined eligibility criteria, using keywords and MeSH terms.

Results: A total of 1,160 participants from 52 studies published over the past five years and originating from 21 different countries were included in the review. Most of the studies suggested that nursing interventions resulted in improved student learning outcomes as knowledge, skills, satisfaction, critical thinking, and self-confidence. Academic-practice partnership programs are innovative interventions, especially during pandemics when the shortage of nursing staff is exacerbated. The removal of certain barriers and clinical training sessions becomes valuable for preparing nursing students as part of the nursing workforce.