Supporting the well-being of nursing students and student midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic the Queen's University Belfast Connections (QUB Connections) project has provided online well-being support to nursing students and student midwives. The project, which was co-designed and led by students and academic staff, provided an online well-being service for students who took on front-line roles during the early part of the pandemic and for those who had to pause their studies. Insights gained from responses to an evaluation of the support sessions suggested that some students felt stigmatised, frightened, lost, isolated and abandoned during this period, but that QUB Connections gave them a sense of 'being held' and 'attended to' in a time of uncertainty. The evaluation findings are a reminder of the need to continue to help nursing and midwifery students and newly qualified staff develop self-care and support mechanisms. QUB Connections is now embedded in the university's school of nursing and midwifery pre-registration programmes to support students and those new to nursing and midwifery practice.

Exploring the role of effective nurse leadership during COVID-19.

The role of leadership in nursing and healthcare is continuously being examined, and has undergone increasing public and media scrutiny due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This article details a project that brought together five final-year nursing students and two experienced nurses who had all worked as part of the early response to the pandemic. Meeting regularly online, the participants sought to explore the literature on nursing leadership as well as their own clinical experience and personal reflections of leadership during the pandemic. This process, which took place over a period of four months, also enabled the participants to examine their own leadership style. Four themes emerged from the group discussions: learning about and building on the history of nursing, the participants' role in nursing leadership, effective leadership during times of uncertainty and the role of communication in effective leadership.