Preparing for the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on a Nursing Simulation Curriculum

Abstract

Background: This article describes one school's process to maintain their undergraduate nursing simulation program during campus closure and clinical placement suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: After the campus closure, faculty replaced clinical hours with simulation using virtual clinical education such as telehealth with standardized patients (SPs), virtual simulations using commercial products, and virtual faculty skills instruction. Results: Using virtual clinical education and SP-based telehealth simulations provided an alternative for 50% of the required direct patient care hours. Virtual simulation accounted for 18,403 clinical hours completed by 244 students. Conclusion: Preparation for emergencies that force campus and clinical site closures should include processes to provide virtual simulation and remote simulations with SPs to replace clinical hours. Planning for the impacts of COVID-19 on the operation of this school of nursing highlights the importance of having a detailed plan to address campus closure due to emergencies. [ J Nurs Educ . 2021;60(1):52–55.]

Prevalence of mental health problems and sleep disturbances in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Policies regarding the replacement of clinical experience with simulations have been trialed in developing countries, tailored to help nursing students cope, adapt and recover as quickly as possible in times of crisis (Agu et al, 2021). The use of simulations is also viewed positively by the newer generation of students, who have expressed a preference for using technology-based simulations as a learning component (Mulyadi et al, 2021;Palancia Esposito and Sullivan, 2020;Shea and Rovera, 2021). Stakeholders involved in nursing education should develop policies related to multiple pedagogies, including online teaching and clinical practice placements.…”

Efficacy of a Standardised Patient Simulation Programme for Chronicity and End-of-Life Care Training in Undergraduate Nursing Students

“…These included online virtual simulations of patient consultations or simulated clinical experiences, generally with satisfactory results in terms of student learning [ 63 , 64 ]. However, few studies used SP simulations during the pandemic, and these studies did not provide data on the effect that this intervention had on students [ 65 ]. The limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meant that the implementation of simulations with SPs to help train nursing students was necessary so that students could be in contact with real patients.…”

Effects of virtual learning environments: A scoping review of literature

“…Considering this, the limits we set required special considerations of demarcation. For instance, many sources pertaining to the student mental health in a VLE context dealt exclusively with nursing students (e.g., Shea & Rovera, 2021 ). These studies offered excellent data sets but were omitted because the data could not be understood as congruous with a universalized definition of what constitutes a student.…”