Abstract
In December 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome, now known as the Coronavirus of 2019
(COVID-19), emerged in Wuhan, China. By 11th March 2020, the World Health Organization
(WHO) declared it a global pandemic. The rapid spread of COVID-19 impacted many
countries, including South Africa, and strained hospitals due to shortages in personnel and
disposables, notably Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Such shortages contributed to
hospital staff contracting and transmitting COVID-19. Concurrently, the education sector was one of the domains that had to implement sudden changes to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In South Africa, the government implemented strict lockdown protocols to try to prevent the COVID-19 virus from spreading. This included the suspension of contact classes in Higher
Education Institutions (HEIs), which led to the adoption of online teaching and learning
methods. Since the diagnostic radiography programme integrates academic and workplacebased learning (WBL), diagnostic student radiographers had to return to their respective clinical training institutions to continue training.
This qualitative, exploratory, descriptive phenomenological study aimed to explore and
describe the lived experiences of diagnostic student radiographers during the COVID-19
pandemic in South Africa. The following objectives were undertaken to achieve the aim of this study: To gather and document the experiences of diagnostic student radiographers during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa and to suggest recommendations for clinical practice to
support students during a pandemic.
The researcher employed an online open-ended questionnaire to gather data amongst a sample size of 216 fourth-year diagnostic student radiographers across four HEIs in South Africa,
selected via purposive sampling. The qualitative data was analysed thematically, revealing
three key themes: Theme 1, Participants emotionally responded to clinical placement when
COVID-19 struck. Theme 2, The PPE was scarce and physically unbearable to work with; however, after constant supply and receiving training, they felt protected and safe wearing it.
Theme 3, During the restricted lockdown levels, online learning came with convenience and
flexibility but also brought learning barriers to some participants. The researcher gathered and
documented the experiences of the student radiographers during the COVID-19 pandemic in
South Africa, and recommendations were suggested for clinical practice to support students during the pandemic.