Valuing tacit nursing knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Nursing
• Pediatrics

Background:

• Public health nurses in Ontario provide essential home visiting services for child development.
• The COVID-19 pandemic increased family needs while reducing access to health and social services.
• Home visiting nurses experienced staff redeployment and shifts to virtual service delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a framework for capturing and sharing tacit knowledge among public health nurses.
• To support nursing practice in the evolving context of public health service delivery.

Main Methods:

• A framework was developed to capture and share the tacit or "how-to" knowledge of public health nurses.
• Reflection on two years of supporting home visiting teams during the pandemic.

Main Results:

• A framework for tacit knowledge sharing was successfully developed.
• The value of tacit knowledge for future public health nursing practice was recognized.

Conclusions:

• The developed framework can inform and enhance future public health nursing practice.
• Valuing tacit knowledge is a significant outcome of pandemic-related adaptations in nursing.