JMU School of Nursing well prepared for switch to virtual simulation

By Eric Gorton

Above: Nursing instructor Jayme Haynes engages with students through virtual simulations.

Nursing students across Virginia are normally required to get 500 hours of practical experience in clinical settings, but a lot of those students had to finish up those hours virtually in spring 2020.

Fortunately for students and nursing schools, the Virginia Board of Nursing waived some of the requirements for in-person training this past spring and allowed students to have more training via simulation.

The JMU School of Nursing was ready for the challenge.

Melody Eaton, head of the School of Nursing, said, “We were very proactive in developing this plan. We were ready to hit the ground running.”

On March 9, the Monday of spring break week, “We decided this [meeting clinical requirements] was going to be an issue so we spent the entire spring break making plans so the students had a seamless transition into virtual simulation and that included an extensive plan to prepare the

faculty,” said Jamie Robinson, associate director for undergraduate programs in the School of Nursing.

The shift to virtual simulation impacts seniors the most because they get the bulk of their clinical experience, 200 hours, in their final year. Robinson said half of the 90-member senior class was able to complete their hours in the first half of the semester, but the rest are completing the time via simulation. Due to the pandemic, the program’s clinical partners were unable to accommodate students during spring semester.

“What’s unique about the way we are doing it, we’re having the instructor be with the students during the simulation as if they were still in clinical and discussing decision making on an ongoing basis,” Robinson said. “Every time a student encounters a decision-making process in their virtual simulation, they pause the video, discuss it among the group and with the instructor and come up with the best recommendation. They’re still getting a lot of collaboration

and they are really still getting a pretty full experience when it comes to using virtual simulation.”

“Several of our graduate programs are completely online and the undergraduate programs, a lot of the courses have a hybrid component prior to COVID-19,” Eaton said. “We were well prepared for transitioning all course and clinical components to an on-line format.”

This fall 2020, the School of Nursing has 406 undergraduate traditional BSN students, 171 RN to BSN students and 118 graduate students. For traditional BSN students a combination of instructional strategies include virtual and hybrid classes, virtual simulation and face to face laboratory experiences, and in person clinical experiences. The School of Nursing is prepared to move forward with exceptional education regardless of the pandemic timeline.