Covid-19: Professors and Students of the School of Nursing of Católica collaborate with Health Units of Matosinhos

In the context of the high prevalence of Covid-19 and the urgent need for resources in Public Health Units, Nursing students from the School of Nursing (Porto) of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, under the supervision and guidance of Nurses and under the guidance of Professor Pedro Melo, all Specialists in Community Health Nursing and Public Health, collaborated in the processes of monitoring cases of risk, in Prophylactic Isolation and positive cases of Covid-19, by telephone.

The students were able, in this context, to develop skills in clinical decision making in Nursing (considering the population, people, families and school communities as targets), as well as communication skills, stress management and teamwork.

To Professor Pedro Melo this "was a way of maintaining coherence with the values, mission and vision of the School of Nursing of Universidade Católica Portuguesa. We want, as a School, to provide the best learning contexts, also guaranteeing a sense of service to the community. In a phase of social emergency, we cannot, as nurses that we also are (the professors), fail to respond to the duties towards the community described in our Code of Ethics and give our students the opportunity to also reflect on the profession's own deontology. It was also a unique learning opportunity (the pandemic phase) in the field of care for individuals and families, but also the perception of what specialist nurses in Community Health Nursing and Public Health do, making students aware of the importance of this area of expertise. We are therefore very grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with the Local Health Unit of Matosinhos and to provide our students with this learning process".

This process of collaboration is still going on and 8 Nursing students have participated so far, and the sense of mission, collaboration and teaching based on community service and available evidence will continue as long as it makes sense to continue.