Background:
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic resulted in the abrupt withdrawal of clinical sites for nurse practitioner (NP) students during the Spring semester of 2020. This situation necessitated the identification of innovative clinical opportunities to ensure advanced practice nursing students met course objectives and program requirements.
Method:
This article describes innovative clinical opportunities that met the needs of the community, including those impacted by the pandemic, and enabled NP students' progression toward completing clinical requirements.
Results:
Participation in these unique opportunities provided more than 130 NP students with meaningful clinical experiences to increase competence in the care of vulnerable populations and communities during a public health crisis.
Conclusion:
Experiences supported competency development in the areas of leadership, clinical management, population health and infection control, policy and advocacy, informatics, telehealth, and ethical considerations while providing essential services to the community. These innovative clinical opportunities may be useful for graduate clinical programs worldwide.
[
J Nurs Educ
. 2022;61(3):153–155.]
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in the abrupt withdrawal of clinical sites for advanced practice nursing students which worsened an already challenging placement process. Few studies to date have analyzed the use of alternative clinical practice experiences used to facilitate the completion of program requirements by advanced practice nursing students beyond direct hour requirements. The faculty team from one university decided to track and analyze their use of alternative clinical practice experiences for advanced practice nursing students actively enrolled during the first semester of the pandemic. The team collated student alternative hour entries within the clinical courses for review and statistical analysis. Data included input from advanced practice nursing students in family, pediatric primary care, adult gerontology primary care, adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner concentrations, and nursing education, doctor of nursing practice, and nurse anesthesia programs. A total of 569 advanced practice nursing students participated in 15 distinct alternative clinical activities. There was a significant effect of students' program concentration on total number of virtual case study hours logged, F(6, 562) = 9.45, p < .0001, and a significant effect of students' program concentration on total number of continuing education hours logged, F(6, 562) = 7.79, p < .0001. Results can inform the use of concentration-specific alternative activities for advanced practice nursing students to address gaps in clinical experiences.
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