Student nurses have revealed how they conquered personal and professional fears to help save patients’ lives during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a new book, Living with Fear: Reflections on Covid-19, student nurses who joined the frontline whilst finishing their studies describe how their fears inspired them to flourish and grow at a time of national crisis.

Claudia Sabeta, who finished her postgraduate course specialising in mental health nursing at Bucks New University this summer, worked at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow helping vulnerable and elderly mental health patients.

She said: "At first, I felt very overwhelmed by the Covid situation and I was worried about joining. I wondered how I would cope and if I’d put my family at risk, but it was a great experience in the end and an opportunity I will never have again in my life.

"It had a positive impact on my knowledge and training, and boosted my confidence. I learned so fast and it will stay with me forever.”

One cause of fear the book explores is the concept of moral injury, which occurs when nurses and clinicians feel unable to provide the care patients need. This leaves the nurse or clinician questioning their own ability, which has been a particular worry for student nurses.

Dr Scott Galloway, one of the book’s authors and Chief Clinical Information Officer at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Every day, frontline healthcare professionals manage the challenges and stress of making difficult and uncomfortable decisions about how to provide the best possible care to patients.

"Sometimes, however, our capacities are so overwhelmed by extraordinary events, such as Covid-19, that we are unable to provide what we know the patient needs.”

Estelle Kabia, who finished the same course as Claudia this summer, experienced this whilst helping patients at Hammersmith & Fulham Mental Health Unit.

She said: “Sometimes I felt moral injury as we were picking up new practical skills whilst dealing with sick patients coming in. But it would come and then go, because after a few weeks I could see the impact I had.

“In one way, stepping up was nerve-wracking but it also gave me the passion to go out there and help. You’re treated as a professional, not a student. I had no fear when I was on the ward.”

Estelle’s experiences are described further in the book, a collaboration between Buckinghamshire New University’s School of Nursing and Allied Health and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL).

All book proceeds will be donated to the CNWL Charitable Fund, which supports staff and service users within the Trust.

The book, 401 pages written by 22 authors (including 10 nurses), brings together the thoughts of frontline professionals, including clinicians, nurses, therapists, doctors, academics, and people with lived experience of Covid-19, reflecting on what they expected, what they saw, and how this impacted them. The concept of fear is the underlying theme throughout the book, which combines first-hand accounts with academic research and details the clear strategies put in place to make clinical decision-making easier.

Margaret Rioga, Associate Head of School in the School of Nursing and Allied Health at Buckinghamshire New University, edited the book alongside fellow Bucks’ academics Mary Mosoeunyane, David Rawcliffe and Kevin Acott.

“The Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on everybody and created fear within us like never before.

"This book shows that fear doesn’t define or take away the skills and experience of medical professionals, but rather helps them to grow a new way of thinking and working.

"When our students were called into practice, it gave them a true sense of what nursing is. They helped to saved lives and became superheroes in their local communities.”

The book is available to purchase on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.