*Limitations*

Although the teacher-to-former student relationship of the PI to participants may be a limitation regarding perceptions about nursing school preparation for the pandemic, participants readily responded to calls for participation and shared openly with the PI, perhaps due in part to the established relationship. Additionally, participants noted in a theme that talking with other health care providers who understand was a significant and desirable form of coping with stress during this time, and they may have perceived benefit in sharing this experience with a fellow clinician, and their former teacher.

#### **5. Conclusions**

Understanding the experiences of novice nurses caring for acutely ill patients during a pandemic and how best to support these nurses was of keen interest to the researchers. The authors believe that this understanding was achieved in the context of this study. Implications of this study include further investigation of the signs and symptoms nurses experienced that were suggestive of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. These nurse participants should be studied longitudinally to uncover the impact on future nursing practice. While nursing education programs provided resources considered helpful for dealing with pandemic-related stressors, programs should build mechanisms into curriculum to focus on crisis management, post-clinical debriefing, strong team communication, and self-care. Employers should build time into the end of shifts for mandatory debriefing to support nurses' mental health.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, H.N.; methodology, C.H. and H.N.; formal analysis, H.N., C.H. and P.T.; investigation, H.N.; resources, H.N.; data curation, H.N.; writing—original draft preparation, H.N., C.H. and P.T.; writing—review and editing, H.N., C.H. and P.T.; visualization, H.N.; supervision, H.N.; project administration, H.N. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** This study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Creighton University on 22 July 2020 (protocol code 2001237-01).

**Informed Consent Statement:** This project was approved by Creighton University IRB and was determined to be exempt from Federal Policy for Protection of Human Subjects as per 45CFR46.101 (b) 2. Though exemption was received, all participants received information about the study, use of data, confidentiality and privacy, voluntary participation, and IRB contact information. Patient consent was waived due to IRB determination of exempt status. Written informed consent has been obtained from the participant contributing the blog post artifact to publish this paper.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy protection.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to thank Joan M. Lappe, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Dean of Research College of Nursing, Creighton University, for her guidance and editorial assistance (https://www.creighton.edu/faculty-directory-profile/340/joan-lappe accessed on 7 May 2021).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
