Exploring the Impact of Virtual Reflection Groups on Advanced Practice Nurse Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Focus Group Study With Master’s Students

Abstract

Background In the master’s program of advanced practice nursing at a Norwegian university college, the learning activity reflection groups were converted into virtual reflection group (VRG) meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of the students’ clinical practices in different hospitals, they could participate in the same VRG meeting on the web together with the educator from the university college, and the clinical supervisors were invited to participate. The students were in the process of developing the core competence required in their role as advanced practice nurses (APNs), and they had increased responsibility in the implementation of the VRG meetings. Objective In this study, we aimed to explore how master’s students of advanced practice nursing experienced VRG meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A qualitative exploratory design was adopted using focus group interviews. A group of students in the master’s program of advanced practice nursing participated in an interview that lasted for 60 minutes. They had experienced participating in the VRG meetings following a rigorous guide during their clinical practice. The data from the focus group were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results The main findings of this study highlighted the importance of structure in VRG meetings, the role of increased responsibility in students’ learning processes, the development of APN students’ competencies, and increased professional collaboration with clinical supervisors. The APN students and clinical supervisors also continued their discussions in the clinical setting afterward, which strengthened the collaboration between students’ education in the master’s program and their clinical practice. Conclusions VRG meetings gave the students the opportunity to lead professional discussions while reflecting thoroughly on the chosen patient cases from clinical practice. They experienced receiving feedback from fellow students, supervisors, and educators as stimulating their critical thinking development.

Clinical supervision experience of nurses in or transitioning to advanced practice: A systematic review

“…The 16 primary research studies resulted in the extraction of 104 findings with supporting illustrations. Statements of original findings with supportive quotes were divided into two perspectives: APNs who provided supervision (Bruce et al, 2018;Jans et al, 2021;Jolstad et al, 2019;Lee et al, 2021) and APNs who received CS (Cook et al, 2020;Cross et al, 2012;Greenway et al, 2013;Hoybakk et al, 2022;Jarrett & Barlow, 2014;Kilcullen, 2007;Lee & Kim, 2022;O'Neill et al, 2023;Richardson et al, 2008;Tulleners et al, 2022;Younge et al, 2020), or both perspectives (Severinsson & Halberg, 1996) (Table 2).…”

“…Five studies were conducted in Australia (Bruce et al, 2018;Cook et al, 2020;Cross et al, 2012;O'Neill et al, 2022;Tulleners et al, 2022); five in the United Kingdom, (Greenway et al, 2013;Jarrett & Barlow, 2014;Lee et al, 2021;Richardson et al, 2008;Younge et al, 2020), two in Norway (Hoybakk et al, 2022;Jolstad et al, 2019)…”

“…All studies reflected the CS experiences of APNs as either supervisors (Bruce et al, 2018;Jans et al, 2021;Jolstad et al, 2019;Severinsson & Halberg, 1996), supervisees only (Cook et al, 2020;Greenway et al, 2013;Hoybakk et al, 2022;Jarrett & Barlow, 2014;Lee et al, 2021;Lee & Kim, 2022;Richardson et al, 2008;Tulleners et al, 2022;Younge et al, 2020), or as both supervisors and supervisees (Cross et al, 2012;Kilcullen, 2007;O'Neill et al, 2023).…”

“…Supervisors of APN supervisees were palliative care NPs, a genetic counsellor, psycho-oncologist, clinical psychologist (Cook et al, 2020), psychotherapists (Cook et al, 2020;Jarrett & Barlow, 2014) and APN students (Hoybakk et al, 2022). One-hundred and four findings from the included studies, as listed in Table 2, were synthesized to form five synthesized findings (Tables 3-7).…”

“…Guidelines about behaviour, task delegation and participation enabled participants to be prepared and helped with time management (Hoybakk et al, 2022;O'Neill et al, 2023). Each participant learned how to lead a group, present a case and give feedback.…”