The roles of nurses during the outbreak
Working together with the government, Taiwanese nurses are heavily involved in prevention, control and treatment of COVID‐19. They provide services including:

Border control and screening
Nurses provide services at airports and harbours to control suspected imported cases. They utilize technology and big data to take history of travel, occupation, contact and cluster (TOCC) and further conduct case finding, fever screening and health assessment.

Charter flight and evacuation services
In January and March, three charter flights were sent to evacuate Taiwanese citizens from Wuhan, China, and Tokyo, Japan (Diamond Princess Cruise ship). Nurses play the key roles to fulfil this mission in protecting all passengers’ health and safety.

Quarantine services
Twenty‐seven quarantine centres are allocated in communities around Taiwan. Nurses are designated to assess physical and psychological health of residents evacuated from abroad. Nurse‐led quarantine call centre was established to recruit nurse volunteers to follow up people under self‐quarantine and early detect those need referral.

Clinical nursing services
Clinical nurses provide direct medical and social care for suspected and confirmed cases at infection control units and negative‐pressure isolation wards. Mental health and psychosocial support of patients and their families are also delivered by nurses via technology and social media. Infection control nurses serve as mentors and consultants to hospitals and the public during the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Community services and public education
In addition to the direct care provided by clinical nurses, nurses in schools, industries and communities implement contact tracing and provide care as part of self‐health management, home quarantine, home isolation and community care services, such as case monitoring and following up. In response to government’s policy, nurses also provide public education regarding proper hand hygiene, cough etiquette, mask wearing and social distancing.
In light of the large number of professional nurses involved, coordinating nurses as a group to respond effectively to this crisis may be considered half the battle.