Staff shortages were so severe this weekend that students at the Otago Polytechnic School of Nursing were urged to volunteer to cover services.
Twenty-one students raised their hands to fill out 27 hospital assistant shifts.
One documented her service by posting a TikTok video that went viral.
In the video, which has since been deleted, she said: “I’ve never worked in a hospital…so basically the hospital needed people to watch over patients at high risk of falling or dementia, things like that, because they’re too need someone literally an arm’s length from them at all times.”
She said she felt very unprepared for the shift, had no idea what she was doing and that a fellow nursing student was teaching her.
“We teach freshmen to freshmen,” she said.
“Obviously I’ve never experienced this before. I cried almost a lot during my shift and I’ve also been hit a few times, which can just happen with these types of patients.”
The students were not paid for their work, as they could not be added to the Te Whatu Ora payroll system, so each student was given a $200 Countdown Shopping Voucher for each shift worked.
The video was posted on Reddit and dozens of viewers responded. One said, “I mean yeah, that’s pretty much every young nurse I’ve seen in this system”.
Another said: “By NZ and today’s standards this is unacceptable. It’s normal or worse in other countries, but of course it’s not acceptable either.”
Otago Polytechnic School of Nursing, Chief of Nursing Karole Hogarth, said staff were made aware of the video and took prompt action to remind students of their professional obligations.
“The social media post has been removed and the student is writing an apology and reflection for her own practice.”
Hogarth said she spoke to freshmen and sophomores when she had classes with them to remind them of their professional responsibilities.
The university also said: “Our undergraduate nursing programs ensure that all students are educated and aware of their professional responsibilities within nursing, including adherence to the Nursing Council of New Zealand code of conduct, social media guidelines and the ethical code of the profession, covering all aspects of professional practice.”
Hogarth said the nursing school was contacted late last week to cover weekend shifts.
“Our staff has sent a message to nursing students and 21 students have volunteered,” she said.
“The feedback we’ve received overall has been very positive.”
Last year, in response to the pandemic’s impact on nursing, the Nursing Council introduced a new training standard for the Registered Nurse Program, which recognizes paid work as “clinical hours” during an emergency of national importance.
This has enabled polytechnics to work with health care providers when it becomes clear that there will be significant staffing issues related to illness or staff isolation due to the pandemic, a spokesperson said.
“Nursing students have already worked around their studies as part-time or occasional health assistants. This includes graduate student vaccinators who have enabled the health sector to increase capacity in the Covid-19 vaccination program.”