Learning and Educating: My Time on the COVID-19 Nurse Task Force

By Annie Steinhauser, MSN, RN, PCCN

In the Spring of 2021, I had the privilege of working with the COVID-19 Nurse Task Force for my preceptorship in the last semester of my Master’s of Science in Nursing in leadership and administration.

In July of last year, the Texas Nurses Association and Texas Nurses Foundation created the COVID-19 Nurse Task Force, including TNA members from throughout the state who represent many different nursing disciplines. The vision of the task force was to meet regularly to share information about the current state of nursing related to COVID-19 in their geographic area and in their specialties. This way, TNA could ensure the organization is supporting nurses throughout the state through the pandemic.

Camaraderie and Purpose

I started my engagement with the COVID-19 Taskforce by attending one of their meetings to understand the needs of the members. During this meeting at the start of 2021, everyone was experiencing the stress and trauma of Winter Storm Uri. At this time, I was also feeling exhausted and stretched thin. I ran vaccine clinics during the initial roll out, which was a high-pressure job, while also assisting with the January patient surge. I spent six days at my hospital during Winter Storm Uri both doing patient care and in Incident Command to deal with the many crises that arose during this ordeal. Like many of my nurse and healthcare colleagues, the Winter and Spring left me with symptoms of burnout. 

There were major changes related to COVID-19 as well, namely the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and easing of masking requirements by state officials. I am based in Austin, and during this meeting I found it very reassuring to hear that nurses throughout the state were facing the same challenges that I was experiencing. Participating in these calls allowed me to view the state of nursing beyond the bubble of my own practice setting and made me feel closer to nurses everywhere.

By the end of the first meeting, I was assigned the task of compiling research on three topics for the purpose of creating handouts that the TNA could make available to Texas nurses:

1. COVID-19 Vaccination Types
2. Proper Masking
3. Mental Health PPE

Even though I had a lot of familiarity with these topics, I found the job of investigating and analyzing the existing research very enjoyable. We have all been barraged this last year with information from so many sources, including the news media and social media. While much of this information may come from well-meaning people, having a nurse as your information source means that you can trust what you are hearing.

Nurse Expertise and Communications

When gathering information for each handout, I utilized only scientific sources, and I was sure to include links to source material. As a nurse I was able to synthesize the information and distill it into a readable, one-page format that contained the most relevant information for my fellow nurses and their patients. As my collaboration with the task force continued, I was assigned two additional topics: “COVID-19 Vaccine Myths and Facts” and “School Safety Related to COVID-19.”

Creating a list of COVID-19 vaccine myths was easy enough. While finishing my degree, I was also working in vaccine clinics from December to March. I am pretty sure I have heard every myth out there. I was glad to contribute to a resource to help nurses dispel the myths for their patients and family and friends who might have questions.

However, “School Safety Related to COVID-19” was a topic far outside my practice area. This ended up being my favorite to create, because I got to collaborate with a school nurse, also a member of the task force, and hear from her directly about the challenges in the education setting. I learned so much and got to connect with a nurse from a specialty that was very different from my own.

Over the course of my semester, I witnessed firsthand the work that the members and staff of TNA do. I know without a doubt that they are all driven by the TNA mission to “Empower Texas Nurses to Advance the Profession.” I was so impressed with all the ways TNA works to connect with nurses from throughout the state and in various practice settings. I witnessed how TNA ensures they are up to date with the issues nurses face so they can empower nurses and advocate for each and every one of us.

I am so proud to be a TNA member. During the pandemic we learned a lot as nurses, and the thing I’ve learned most of all is how much we need each other. Working in teams was the only way to get through this past year and a half. This was true for patient care and for the support we gave one another in the face of a situation we never faced before. I hope we never forget this lesson: nurses are essential – to the community and to one another.