Goal 1 Continue to develop, evaluate and improve programs and services that further our mission. Virtual Quality Improvement Projects Keep DNP Students on Track During Pandemic faculty members, documenting the thoughts and ideas generated by the conversations.
True to the history and pioneering origin of the University, FNU students are taught to be innovative to best serve the people in their care. The ability to assess and adapt quickly to the needs of the community are central components of an FNU education. Since they teach these skills, it’s only fitting that FNU faculty possess them as well. Their innovative and adaptive expertise was on full display in the spring of 2020 when the COVID-19 Pandemic began its rapid spread in the United States. While many FNU students were able to continue their community-based coursework, some students entering the clinical phase experienced restrictions that took away access to their clinical sites and many faced the potential of having to take an academic hiatus.
“Dr. Jolles’ brainstorming document actually started other people thinking about what are the possibilities,” assistant professor Khara’ Jefferson, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, said.
Diana Jolles
“Even though the students worked at their clinical sites, all non-essential things were put on hold,” said assistant professor Christoper Kennedy, DNP. “Basically family practice was put on hold. Some of our students were furloughed, some were working from home, but with a different focus. They didn’t know how the pandemic was going to go.” The solution was to create four community-based projects that could be conducted virtually.
Students in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Christoper Kennedy “We leveraged our existing structure to minimize (DNP) program must complete a quality chaos and maintain the rigor to know that it would improvement project. The DNP quality be fair,” Dr. Jolles said. “DNP Director Dr. (Jane) improvement project is a carefully planned Houston (DNP, CNM) always said we can’t make this ‘DNPand executed patient-focused initiative that requires weeks lite’. We were very committed to making sure the students of planning and preparation. Students identify a tool kit, had a rigorous process.” guideline, or algorithm that can be implemented to improve the health of a defined patient population, a commodity The virtual projects the students were able to choose difficult to come by in a pandemic. from included COVID-19 prevention; preventative health and wellness; end of life planning; and virtual One of the few bits of good fortune during that time wellness. Conducting these projects virtually, students was that the pandemic essentially hit during the term recruited participants from the community rather than break between courses. It wasn’t much time, but FNU’s their patient base. DNP faculty were determined to find a way to allow their students to proceed without interruption. Fortunately, “The process of creating and implementing these even before the break, DNP clinical faculty Diana Jolles, projects embodied every aspect of the Culture of Caring, Ph.D., CNM anticipated the potential threat of the every aspect that we think about mutual support and pandemic and began a brainstorming session with other communication,” Dr. Houston said.
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| 2020 PRESIDENT’S REPORT
