Escola de Enfermagem fighting COVID-19
At the Nursing School of the Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Católica do Porto, teachers and students are committed to helping the community within their field of action. First of all, because almost all Masters and PhD students maintain their work in health institutions and school activity plans have been adapted to this situation so that they can continue their studies.
The teachers who specialize in Community Health Nursing have made themselves available to collaborate with the SNS24 line, and contribute to other platforms, such as the group "Covid-19 - Information given by health professionals", which is an information space for thousands of people, or in the elaboration of guiding documents, such as the guide to the Family Contingency Plan for the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The Catholic Nursing Center (CEC) - a community service unit where teachers and students develop various projects - has been particularly attentive to its regular partners. In this context, training has already been provided to the staff of the Home Support Service (SAD) who support elderly people, for the prevention of contagion and appropriate use of PPE in the Social Center of Senhora da Conceição Parish. This type of collaboration is open to all parishes in the city that request it by email cec@porto.ucp.pt.
Still in the scope of the activity of the CEC, began this week the collaboration of some teachers with a Grouping of Health Centers of the city of Porto in the training of Structures Residences for Elderly People, in the prevention COVID-19 and surveillance of infected people, after screening and in direct collaboration with the Public Health Unit of the area.
Particular attention is being given to people in social isolation. The students of the 1st year of the degree in Nursing, who were doing clinical teaching in Residential Structures for Elderly People, voluntarily maintain telephone contact with some people with whom they had already started the activity and the students of the 4th year are preparing to give continuity to the community intervention with families with patients in charge referred by the Diocesan Caritas, or elderly people and isolation and greater vulnerability signalled by the Health Centres and other partner entities of the CEC.
The current context of the Covid-19 pandemic has allowed the School of Nursing to develop skills in students specifically addressed to crisis and disaster situations, either in deepening the ethical and deontological issues that emerge in these situations, or in the global health perspective that affects humanity as a whole, or in developing strategies for surveillance and control of local communities.
April 2020