Reflection on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a community specialist palliative care nurse team.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: A global COVID-19 pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization in March 2020. AIM: To explore COVID-19's impact on one specialist community palliative care nurse (SCPCN) team 8 months after the first COVID-19 wave in the UK. METHOD: The Gibbs Reflective Cycle was used. FINDINGS: This SCPCN team described the COVID-19 pandemic as the most difficult and challenging time experienced at work, due to the increased workload and having to provide unsustainable levels of support for patients and their families. CONCLUSION: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic's significant demands on community palliative care, the SCPCN team was able to adapt accordingly. This resulted in an increasingly collaborative, reflexive, responsive, skilled and resilient team, proud of the personalised support offered to patients, their families and to other services.