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Valuing tacit nursing knowledge during the COVID‐19 pandemic
Author(s) -
Orr Elizabeth,
Jack Susan M.,
Campbell Karen,
Strohm Sonya
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
public health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1525-1446
pISSN - 0737-1209
DOI - 10.1111/phn.13129
Subject(s) - pandemic , nursing , context (archaeology) , public health , tacit knowledge , medicine , covid-19 , knowledge management , geography , disease , archaeology , pathology , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Public health nurses in Ontario, Canada, support the healthy growth and development of children across the province through a variety of programs including home visits for pregnant individuals and families with young children. During the COVID‐19 global pandemic the needs of families increased while access to health and social services decreased. During this time, home visiting teams closely involved in supporting families also experienced staff redeployment to support pandemic efforts (e.g., case and contact management, vaccinations) and changes to the nature of home visiting work, including shifts to remote or virtual service delivery. To support nursing practice in this new and evolving context, a framework for capturing and sharing the tacit or how‐to knowledge of public health nurses was developed. A valuing of this type of knowledge for informing future public health nursing practice – well beyond the pandemic response – was recognized as a pandemic silver lining when reflecting on two years of supporting home visiting teams in our province.