This chapter reports on a research project that set out to capture the unique stories from rural nurses from Aotearoa, New Zealand. During the past three decades changing socio-political and economic contexts have affected the delivery of health care while rural nurses have responded with new models of practice which has resulted in an emerging rural nurse discourse related and specific to rural New Zealand. Rural nurses have maintained and, in some cases, improved the health care of these rural communities. A total of 26 rural nurse participants shared their stories providing data to explore the structured phenomenon of rural nursing in New Zealand. Personal and human dimensions are illuminated, as the in-depth meaning of the experience is described by each individual storyteller. Interviews were conducted to collect retrospective stories uncovering the participants’ rural nurse journey. Revealed are a sense of place and people, involving what nurses’ express, as the rural way. A nursing discourse is developed which complements and extends international theories. The rural nurse of New Zealand is imbued with pioneering spirit; entrepreneurial practice shaped by their rural communities highlighting what we suggest is the rural way. Further expansion of the rural way was uncovered with follow up interviews exploring their practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction:The aim of this article was to collect and analyseif/how the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the practice of rural nurses'from Aotearoa, New Zealand.Methods: This qualitative study involved nine rural nurse paticipants from New Zealand. All participants engaged with an individual zoom interview, during the pandemic lockdown. The interviews were conducted and audio recorded with the first author, guided by a set number of questions. The interviews were edited and produced as a podcast before being played on a local radio station in New Zealand.Thematic analysis was used to analyse theedited recorded podcast interviews.Results: During COVID-19 rural nurses' became welfare providers and community educators, they upskilled their practice and worked at a distance. They were effective communicators and collaborators with their health practitioner colleagues and members of the rural communities. Equally, health disparities, vulnerable populations, economic dynamics and community resiliance were noted as was the rural nurses' pioneering spirit. Discussion:The COVID-19 pandemic placed heightened demands on rural nurses and thus, potentially demanded changes in practice. Recognition has been given to compare whether the pioneering spirit associated with rural nursing practice, initially in the 1990s has continued in a similar vein, identified in the larger research project was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings have further lead us to reflect on lessons learnt from nurses' experiences and practice associated with the New Zealand 1918 flu pandemic.

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