Skills, community, and rapport: Prelicensure nursing students in the virtual learning environment.

INTRODUCTION: The coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic forced changes in program delivery across nursing education. This article describes the innovative virtual lab sessions designed and implemented for Foundations and Pediatrics courses in an Accelerated Baccalaureate Science in Nursing program. The objectives of this quality improvement project were to (1) ascertain student perceptions of learning in virtual lab environment (2) identify benefits and barriers to planning and implementing virtual learning experiences, and (3) explore student attitudes and perceptions regarding group dynamics and the sense of community provided by virtual lab sessions. METHODS: A cross-sectional approach was employed with two cohorts (Cohort 1, n = 71; Cohort 2, n = 86). Students completed a survey and responded to open-ended questions regarding their virtual clinical lab experiences. RESULTS: The four themes of small group dynamics, resource availability, hands-on activities, and sense of community emerged as the characteristics students liked most about virtual lab sessions with 95% of students reporting the virtual lab sessions were engaging. Overall student survey responses were favorable to the virtual labs. DISCUSSION: This project demonstrates that nursing educators were able to design and implement innovative teaching and learning strategies in a virtual environment to promote knowledge, skills, and attitudes while nurturing a sense of community.

Preparing Clinicians for Transitioning Patients Across Care Settings and Into the Home Through Simulation.

Assuring home care staff competencies through simulation has the potential to improve care transitions and clinical outcomes. Recreating a home environment can be used for orientation of home care staff and to meet other learning needs. Lessons learned from the use of simulation in a geriatric nursing course in a prelicensure program can be used to prepare clinicians for transitioning patients across care settings. With simulation, learners can identify challenges in patient safety, pain management, and management of patients' cognitive decline as well as learn how to communicate with patients, family members, and the healthcare team. Simulation, as an interactive pedagogy, provides opportunities for learners to practice assessment, monitoring, and patient care in a controlled, safe, risk-free environment. Following participation in a simulation, learners are given the opportunity to reflect on ways to improve patient care when transitioning from acute to home care settings. Simulations described in this article can be used for orientation of staff to a home healthcare agency because they allow clinicians to hone the skills necessary for patient care in the home. Staff educators can also use simulation to validate staff competencies in caring for patients at home.