A screening of Exposed: Nursing Narratives and short films based on interviews will be followed by a panel discussion
Anxiety, frustration, guilt and inner turmoil characterised the COVID-19 pandemic for many nurses. For some, this was compounded by racism and discrimination. The pandemic affected the wellbeing of all of us, but this film screening and Q&A focuses on the impact on healthcare staff, who witnessed the loss of patients on a scale most had never experienced before. A screening of Exposed: Nursing Narratives and short films based on interviews carried out by researchers at the University of Surrey will be followed by a panel discussion, chaired by documentary film-maker Ken Fero.
This is an in-person event only.
The venue is wheelchair accessible and has a hearing loop. If you have any questions or accessibility needs, please contact us on rcn.library@rcn.org.uk or 0345 337 3368.
Read the full terms and conditions for our events here.
The ICON study (Impact of COVID-19 on Nurses)
COVID-19 placed additional and extreme demands on an already overstretched UK nursing workforce. The pandemic bought additional challenges such as limited access to PPE, contagion fears and for many redeployment with inadequate training and the additional pressures this bought. The impact of COVID-19 on nurses (ICON) qualitative study sought to examine in-depth how nurses were affected by working through the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty nurses from a range of nursing settings and geographical locations were involved with the study over 2 years and were interviewed up to 4 times. The study, led by Professor Jill Maben, identified the traumatic and distressing working practices that nurses experienced. Nurses worked in altered care-landscapes with more critically ill and dying patients and many nurses reporting trauma which significantly impacted their mental health causing some to change roles or leave the profession.
EXPOSED: Nursing Narratives
‘Exposed’ is a groundbreaking documentary directed by Ken Fero that combines the stories of 19 Black, brown and migrant nurses and midwives to speak about their powerful experiences of racism before, during and after the pandemic. It emerged from an inter-disciplinary research project, Nursing Narratives – Racism and the Pandemic, undertaken by academics from the Culture and Creativity Research Institute and the College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences at Sheffield Hallam University and led by Professor Anandi Ramamurthy. It was awarded funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council following UKRI’s call for projects to explore the impact of Covid-19.