More Than Physical: Covid-19\u27s Devastating Impact

Covid-19 has impacted our world in many ways. In this autoethnographic research paper, two college nursing students share their own unique perspective related to the topic. Through their journaling over the pandemic, they derive three main themes in their writing. These themes included vaccine hesitancy, burnout in healthcare professionals, and online schooling because of isolation protocols. Each theme is explored through research which includes personal experience, scholarly journals, website articles, blog posts, social media posts, and personal interviews. Vaccine hesitancy is explored, and research concludes that misinformation is widely to blame. Burnout in healthcare workers is shown to increase during the pandemic for a variety of reasons, including unsafe patient to nurse ratios, concern for contacting the virus, and poor working conditions related to inadequate PPE (personal protective equipment), all of which are shown to take a toll on the nurse\u27s mental health. Despite some benefits, online schooling has had an overall negative impact on the education of college students. This paper details the devastating effect Covid-19 had on the nursing profession, the education of college students, and the impact it had on these populations\u27 mental health