Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36794063›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in public health2023

"Burnout felt inevitable": Experiences of university staff in educating the nursing and allied health workforce during the first COVID-19 waves.

Lisa O'Brien, Josephine Tighe, Nastaran Doroud, Sarah Barradell, Leah Dowling, Adrian Pranata, Charlotte Ganderton, Robin Lovell, Roger Hughes

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
4.1field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Preparedness of the Emergency Medical Services Educational System: Pandemic Barriers and Adaptations.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions: Follow-Up on Changes Within Canadian Academic and Fieldwork Curricula.Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d'ergotherapie · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Lisa O'BrienDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Josephine TigheDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Nastaran DoroudDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Sarah BarradellDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Leah DowlingDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Adrian PranataDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Charlotte GandertonDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Robin LovellDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Roger HughesDepartment of Nursing and Allied Health, School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia.
Swinburne University of Technology · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Maintaining progress in the face of looming burnout during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic was crucial for the health workforce, including those educating the next generation of health professionals. The experiences of students and healthcare practitioners have been explored to a greater degree than the experiences of university-based health professional educators. Methods: This qualitative study examined the experiences of nursing and allied health academics at an Australian University during COVID-19 disruptions in 2020 and 2021 and describes the strategies that academics and/or teams implemented to ensure course continuity. Academic staff from nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and dietetics courses at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia provided narratives regarding the key challenges and opportunities they faced. Results: The narratives highlighted the strategies generated and tested by participants amidst rapidly changing health orders and five common themes were identified: disruption; stress; stepping up, strategy and unexpected positives, lessons, and legacy impacts. Participants noted challenges related to student engagement in online learning and ensuring the acquisition of discipline-specific practical skills during periods of lock-down. Staff across all disciplines reported increased workload associated with converting teaching to on-line delivery, sourcing alternative fieldwork arrangements, and dealing with high levels of student distress. Many reflected on their own expertise in using digital tools in teaching and their beliefs about the effectiveness of distance teaching for health professional training. Ensuring students were able to complete required fieldwork hours was particularly challenging due to constantly changing public health orders and conditions and staffing shortages at health services. This was in addition to illness and isolation requirements further impacting the availability of teaching associates for specialist skills classes. Discussion: Solutions such as remote and blended learning telehealth, and simulated placements were rapidly implemented in some courses especially where fieldwork could not be rescheduled or amended at the health settings. The implications and recommendations for educating and ensuring competence development in the health workforce during times when usual teaching methods are disrupted are discussed.

Indexed as

COVID-19Health WorkforceAustraliaBurnout, PsychologicalCommunicable Disease ControlHumansPandemicsUniversitiesallied healthCOVID-19educationnursingpandemicworkforce

Identifiers

PMID36794063
PMCPMC9922890
OpenAlexW4318465487

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.