SUBSTITUTING SIMULATIONS

HANDS-ON INSTRUCTION GOES VIRTUAL

BY CHUCK WASSERSTROM

When COVID-19 first arrived in Chattanooga in March, shutting down face-to-face learning, Jacob Fayiah was anxious about his status in his family nurse practitioner studies.

Fayiah, on track to receive his master’s from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing in May 2021, immediately thought of the ramifications of not being able to go to a simulation lab.

“I worried a lot, and I was even thinking, ‘They’re going to cancel the whole program, I don’t think we’re going any further.’ I was actually shocked when they said they were going to transition online,” he recalls. “The first thing I thought was, ‘How am I going to assess somebody that I can’t physically touch?’”

As Fayiah quickly learned, School of Nursing Simulation Coordinator Rosebelle Peters and Amber Roche, nurse practitioner program coordinator, had already been hard at work putting together creative virtual online training sessions. Students quickly found that learning how to ask patients the right questions is paramount, regardless of being in the same room or on Zoom.

Simulation educators recorded scenarios and delivered them online, using what’s known as “decision points.”

“Decision points are when you pause a scenario and you talk about what the nurse would do in this situation,” Peters says. “The goal is to generate critical-thinking opportunities, to generate engagement and collaboration among students because they can talk among themselves.”

Jacob Fayiah

What ended up happening is that it was almost like you’re doing a telemedicine appointment with a patient which, in the age of COVID, is important to know how to do.

Students were asked to choose from a list of nursing actions during the virtual simulation scenarios, such as which action they would perform first.

“And then we ask them questions if they miss something,” Peters says. “We give them a lot of feedback and a lot of coaching while they are going through their scenarios.

A dozen different situations were recorded for online instruction, with more planned during the upcoming winter break, she says.

“Simulation is where you’re going to apply your skills,” she says. “We continue to look at what is happening in the clinical setting and try to incorporate those scenarios, too.”

Brittany Ambers

Brittany Ambers, a nurse for six years who will be receiving her master’s in the family nurse practitioner concentration in May 2021, compares the virtual simulations with telemedicine appointments.

“Simulations by nature are like going to an appointment at a doctor’s office. You put hands on the patient. You’re face-to-face with them. You create the environment for the patient,” Ambers says.

“It was hard to imagine how we were going to do that onscreen in our own homes, but they made it asrealistic as they possibly could have for us. What ended up happening is that it was almost like you’re doing a telemedicine appointment with a patient which, in the age of COVID, is important to know how to do.”

Ambers says the virtual world required some extra practice on the part of students. In her case, her husband stepped in as a “patient,” allowing her to practice specific assessment skills in-person in conjunction with the online training.

“I think doing the simulations virtually has been a benefit for my classmates and me just because you’re still getting the practice with interviewing patients and building rapport,” Ambers says. “And, like we do in regular simulation, you have faculty watching you do it and giving you feedback

afterwards on things you did great on and things to improve on. You’re getting the experience, and you’re still getting the feedback.”

As the world and COVID-19 evolve, learning how to build a rapport and assess patients online may turn into a blessing in disguise for those in the nursing profession.

“Looking back, I did learn a lot doing the simulations,” Fayiah says. “I could spend a lot of time doing it online because I didn’t have to go on campus; I could stay home and practice, practice, practice.

“Even though it wasn’t hands-on, we were able to achieve what we needed to. I’m so thankful that the school didn’t close down, and that we were able to figure out how to do this online.” +