SCHOOL OF NURSING

Hitting the ground running when the crisis hit.

Who are more prepared than nurses? Nobody really. And that came in handy when having to convert curricula over to the virtual environment in the course of a weekend in March 2020.

FGCU uses a learning management system called Canvas to manage course content and delivery, access tools like Zoom, collaborate with students and more. It is like the virtual engine on which the university curriculum runs. Some schools use more of its capabilities than others. The School of Nursing uses it a lot.

When COVID hit, Canvas became a critical part of making the shift to virtual classes. Every course in the School of Nursing already had a Canvas course setup where students could obtain information for classes and professors could plan courses, so the transition to virtual classes was fairly easy. In fact, some had already been teaching classes virtually for quite some time. This gave them the time and opportunity to focus on creating high fi delity substitutes for the clinical experiences students had to forego for nine months in 2020.

NURSING DEGREE PROGRAMS

} M.S. Nurse Educator (M.S.N.) } Nurse Practitioner (B.S.N. to D.N.P.) } Nursing (B.S.N.) } M.S.N. to D.N.P. } Nurse Anesthesiology (B.S.N. to D.N.P.) } Nurse Anesthesiology (M.S.N. to D.N.P.)

CERTIFICATE

} Nurse Educator

The MSN Nurse Anesthesia Program successfully transitioned to the doctoral level with the new BSN-DNP Nurse Anesthesiology Program admitting the fi rst cohort of 24 students in Summer 2020. The DNP Nurse Practitioner Program offered the opportunity for students and faculty to learn about telehealth and interact with telehealth national leaders.

While COVID defi nitely impacted nursing programs, especially those with a clinical component like in the BSN program, it did not impact the ultimate goals of students — graduating, getting certifi ed and getting a job. Our BSN students achieved 100% employment rates, and 98% fi rst-time certifi cation pass rates. Here are some 2020 highlights:

} BSN students enrolled in the Community & Public Health Nursing course participated in community COVID vaccination and testing. } 100% fi rst-time FNP certifi cation pass rates in the BSN-DNP Nurse

Practitioner Program. } 100% employment rates within six months of graduation from

FGCU Nursing programs. } 97.5% of BSN students passed the NCLEX-RN test on fi rst try.

National average was 91%. } Nurse Anesthesiology students worked on the front lines from June 2020 on.

Marieb students, alumni and faculty fight COVID on the front lines.

“I never thought in my first year of nursing I would be a part of history, working in the heart of a pandemic.”

Shelby Miller earned her B.S. in Nursing in 2019. And with little experience under her belt beyond her education at FGCU, she was entrusted to work in Tampa General Hospital’s COVID-19 ICU.

“I believe I was able to start out in an ICU as a

brand new nurse because of the great education I

received,” she observes. “One valuable lesson was to expect the unexpected, and always try to be one step ahead. In these tough times, every healthcare worker has no idea what they are going to walk into on their next shift, but has to walk in with their head high, take care of their patients, and hope they heal and go home to their loved ones.”

Shelby’s courage, selflessness and professionalism reflect the response Marieb College students are taught. Throughout the college we saw students and faculty from every health and human services major champing at the bit to serve during the crisis.

When assistant nursing professor, Kelly Goebel, had a digital bootcamp and conference canceled because of COVID, she went to work treating coronavirus patients in Naples Community Hospital instead.

“Nurses have the innate ability to be flexible and adaptable to almost any situation that crosses their

way,” she says. “Thirty years of experience as a nurse has taught me that you can always depend on your academic and clinical nursing colleagues for support at any time.”

FGCU students were finally able to return to clinical settings for internships in spring 2021 and Julio Valdes was among the first to volunteer to administer vaccinations and educate patients on the vaccination process. It’s just one of the ways FGCU students, graduates and faculty are making a positive impact on the communities FGCU serves near and far – even risking their own health amidst all the hardships and tragedies caused by the pandemic in their own lives.

Nonetheless, as Julio observes, the first instinct of those in the healing professions is to get out there and serve. “I can see in all of my classes how excited they are to get out and help out and work. I’ve felt the same way, too,” he says. Those among Marieb College’s alumni, staff and faculty heartily agree.