Academic caring pedagogy, presence, and Communitas in nursing education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Clinical students' perception of educational environment in a Nigerian university: a mixed method study

BACKGROUND

Learning environment (LE) research has been given priority in higher education institutions globally because of its influence on learning processes and outcomes. Although studies reporting the perceptions of health science students about LE in Nigeria are available, none have compared the perceptions of students from different health professions. Therefore, this study aimed to assess final-year clinical students' perceptions of their LE from four programs (dentistry, medicine, nursing, and physiotherapy) and compared their LE perceptions.

METHODS

This study adopted a cross-sectional study design using a mixed method approach. The quantitative survey involved all the final-year clinical students at the University of Ibadan, and they completed the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) questionnaire. The qualitative aspect involved 24 consenting students in four focus group discussions.

RESULTS

A total of 214 out of 223 copies of the DREEM questionnaire were duly completed and returned, yielding 96.0% response rate. The participants' mean age was 24 ± 2.3 years (ranged between 22 and 25 years, p = 0.001). The mean DREEM scores of the students from the four programs ranged between 119.68 ± 18.02 and 147.65 ± 15.89 out of a maximum of 200, interpreted as more positive than negative perceptions of LE. Physiotherapy students' DREEM score was significantly higher than those of medical, dental, and nursing students (p < 0.001). The DREEM scores of other students did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). Dental and medical students had similar positive perceptions. The qualitative aspect revealed that the students had positive perceptions of their teachers' knowledge base and self-acquisition of knowledge but negative perceptions of their teachers' communication skills, infrastructural facilities, lecturer-student relationships, and hostel accommodations.

CONCLUSION

Although the survey indicated that these clinical students had more positive than negative perceptions of their learning environment, the qualitative aspect of the study revealed many challenges that the students were confronted with. The clinical students' perception of their learning environment could be improved if the university authorities would address these challenges.

Critical analysis of the scientific production on Jean Watson's Theory of Human Care

OBJECTIVES

to analyze current scientific production on the use of the theoretical-methodological precepts of Jean Watson's Theory of Human Care/Clinical Caritas Process.

METHODS

quantitative, exploratory, descriptive study using data from 1979 to 2023 in the Scopus database. Analysis was carried out using VOSviewer software.

RESULTS

the 73 studies included establish a network of collaboration among 221 authors from 155 institutions in 18 countries, who discuss the development of ethical behavior in nursing staff, through technical improvement, implementation, and validation of instrumental strategies capable of measuring and evaluating the quality of holistic and empathetic care. The Theory of Human Caring contributes to nursing training and care, and Process Clinical Caritas-Veritas is useful for the different possibilities of practice and education.

CONCLUSIONS

it is important to strengthen with more empirical data a nursing work model centered on individual human care, supporting the evolution of scientific nursing knowledge.

Teaching Through the Student Lens: Qualitative Exploration of Student Evaluations of Teaching

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to use feedback from student evaluations of teaching (SETs) to define and describe themes associated with perceived teaching effectiveness.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed SETs for instructors in required didactic courses from one academic year using qualitative content analysis. The analysis included student responses to the following questions: "Describe the strongest aspect of the instructor's teaching." and "What could the instructor do to improve his/her teaching effectiveness?"

RESULTS

Five themes were developed from 4683 coded segments and are described with example quotations. These themes included clarity of instruction and learning activities, alignment of learning and assessment activities, examples that offer practice or demonstrate relevance, engaging learning environment, and concern for student learning and success. Aspects of each theme are described with example coded segments.

CONCLUSION

These themes and supportive quotes offer a deeper understanding of the student perspective on similar ideas that are present throughout the teaching and learning literature and represent broad aspects of teaching, such as material design, in-class practices, and interpersonal characteristics. These themes can provide guidance for specific domains of faculty development in teaching.

The measured impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing students' wellbeing, clinical placement and learning experiences: a cross sectional study

Background: The epidemiological patterns of COVID-19 varied across Australia and differed from most other countries. Few studies describe the impact that the pandemic had on nursing student wellbeing, education and career.Aim: This study aimed to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on nursing students' well-being, clinical placement and learning.Design: Cross-sectional survey.Setting: Sydney, Australia.Participants: Second- and third-year nursing students.Methods: Second- and third-year nursing degree students were asked to participate in an ethically approved study during March to May 2021. The de-identified on-line survey consisted of 63 closed end question and one open ended question. On completion, the dataset was exported from Redcap and imported into SPSS for analysis. Open ended text data were analysed by two researchers.Results: Of the 105 participating nursing students, a third (n = 26/83, 31%) thought about changing their degree to a non-nursing degree. The acknowledged risk of caring for a COVID-19 patient incrementally increased stress (β-coefficient = 0.6, p value = 0.009, 95% CI 0.2-0.9). Conversely students who intended to complete their degree were less likely to report stress. Students who had prior nursing experience were three times more likely to report an increased generalised anxiety level (OR 3.8, p-value = 0.02, 95% CI 1.2-12.2), yet they were less likely to experience personal accomplishment burnout compared to other students. Nursing students who contemplated a change of degree to a non-nursing degree were 15.7 times more likely to experience emotional exhaustion and were 3.5 times more likely to be report a risk of depersonalisation (p = 0.03, 95% CI, 1.3-11.5).Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic compromised nursing student well-being, and theoretical and practical learning. Findings have implications for healthcare and academic staff who teach nursing students. Implementation of student-centred evidence-based strategies to manage stress, burnout and anxiety, and to sustain a healthy student cohort is essential to retain the future nursing workforce.

Psychometric properties analysis of helping relationships skills inventory for Portuguese nurses and doctors

This paper answered some authors' requests to analyze the Helping Relationships Skills Inventory psychometric properties, a four dimensions measure. At this level, the study contributed to accessing the first reliable and valid instrument headed to Portuguese nurses and doctors. Methods: An online survey with Portuguese nurses and doctors (n = 262) was managed to assess the psychometrics properties analysis of the Helping Relationships Skills Inventory. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, the average variance extracted (AVE), the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT), Cronbach's Alpha, and McDonald's Omega were computed. Results: The four-factor of the original Helping Relationships Skills Inventory was only supported by Exploratory Factor Analysis, with good internal consistency. Our study accepted this correlational structure hypothesis, which demonstrated acceptable to good sensitivity, convergent validity (AVE: 0.84-0.67), and reliability (Cronbach's Alpha: 0.92-0.88; McDonald'Omega: 0.93-0.79). Also stays verified discriminant validity for the majority of the factors with some reserves between Generics and Emphatics dimensions (HTMT: 0.90), revealing high commonality among them (r = 0.84; p < .001) Conclusions: The findings support the sensitivity, construct validity, and reliability of the Helping Relationships Skills Inventory among Portuguese nurses and doctors. However, will be useful to associate qualitative methodologies to explore the phenomenon better.

Trauma-Informed Pedagogy: Instructional Strategies to Support Student Success

Over the past several years, the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has contributed to challenging working and life conditions. As a result, the midwifery and health care workforce has faced significant shortages due to burnout. Increased societal awareness of historical trauma and systemic racism embedded within US culture has also led to increased anxiety and signs of trauma among midwifery and health profession students. Now more than ever, innovative teaching strategies are needed to support students, reduce the risks of burnout, and increase diversity in the workforce. One strategy is to adopt a trauma-informed pedagogy within midwifery education. Trauma-informed pedagogy is founded on core assumptions of trauma-informed care and thus supports student success by recognizing that the student cannot be separated from their own life experiences. Faculty and preceptors can develop empathetic, flexible supports that communicate care and concern regarding students' personal and social situations, and emotions. Empathetic behavior from teachers also increases student learning motivation, making it easier for students to actively engage in learning thereby reducing their distress. The purpose of this State of the Science review, therefore, was to describe the literature surrounding trauma-informed pedagogy and to offer concrete educational strategies that faculty members and educational programs can employ to increase the success of a diverse student body. This can be accomplished through flexibility in curriculum design and outcome measurement to ensure attainment of end of program learning outcomes. Institutional and administrative support are essential to develop a faculty who realize the benefit and value of trauma-informed pedagogy underpinning student success.

Board Leaders' Perspectives of the Impact of Nurses on Boards

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the study was to explore the impact of nurses on boards (NOBs) from the perspectives of board leaders who are not nurses.

BACKGROUND

Research about the impact of NOBs derives from nurses' recall of board experiences. No studies explore the impact of NOBs from perspectives other than nurses.

METHODS

Researchers used an exploratory qualitative design with purposive sampling and interviewed 16 participants.

RESULTS

According to participants, NOBs impact board governance as boundary spanners within the healthcare ecosystem. The overarching pattern is supported by 6 traversing themes.

CONCLUSIONS

Board leaders' perspectives of NOBs as boundary spanners illustrate the far-reaching impact nurses have in the board role and on the direction of healthcare organizations.

Exploring an Innovative Approach to Enhance Discussion Board Engagement

Online discussion boards are a standard learning management system (LMS) instructional tool used in the emerging online learning pedagogy. This pilot study examined an innovative approach that differs from how discussion boards have been commonly used. Using a retrospective, cross-sectional design, we evaluated the effect of shifting from traditional teacher and student-generated prompts to using student-generated videos with higher-order discussion questions to gauge student perceptions of peer feedback and engagement. Participants were graduate students in a health care administration course at a large university. Overall students' perceptions of creating and responding to student-generated prompts were positive. Students responded that they were more engaged and thought more critically about the content with this shift from the traditional way of using discussion boards. As digital technology reshapes higher education, it is essential to reflect and evaluate the effectiveness of current LMS applications and standard procedures to improve educational delivery.

Nurse Educators' Perceptions and Self-efficacy in Response to COVID-19: A Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurse educators had to adapt quickly to required changes in nursing education following isolation mandates. Educators worked diligently to provide a quality remote/online educational experience with limited resources.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this review was to explore nurse educators' perceptions and self-efficacy toward the transformation from the traditional face-to-face teaching to remote/online teaching and simulation/laboratory modifications in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A scoping review, informed by PRISMA-SCR guidelines, was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL Complete, OVID MEDLINE, and Google Scholar.

RESULTS

There were 34 articles included in the final review, with 7 themes identified: teaching pedagogy, technology challenges, online teaching role, learning environment, leadership, clinical education, and well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

The review is relevant to nursing faculty across the globe. Planning for future pandemics should include self-care, use of evidence-based practices, protocols, and increased communication.

Actitud hacia la investigación de estudiantes de enfermería en un contexto de educación a distancia

Introducción: El cierre de instituciones educativas a nivel mundial debido a la pandemia global de COVID-19 dio como resultado una educación a distancia que ha modificado la apreciación y la actitud de los estudiantes universitarios ante ciertos aspectos educativos. Se desconoce si este cambio afecta la actitud hacia la investigación. Objetivo: Analizar la actitud hacia la investigación de los estudiantes de enfermería en un contexto educativo a distancia. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo transversal correlacional, en 376 estudiantes inscritos de todos los años de enfermería de una universidad mexicana, excluyendo estudiantes de otras escuelas, en estancia académica o bajas. Se midieron variables sociodemográficas y el cuestionario actitud hacia la investigación en universitarios, con previa aprobación de un comité de ética y autorización por consentimiento informado. Resultados: Los estudiantes tuvieron una actitud hacia la investigación de mala a regular, 69-71% manifestó que los principales obstáculos para no investigar fueron falta de tiempo y conocimientos, consideraron que hacer investigación fue estresante y tedioso, 96-98% pensaban que saber citar, redactar y organizarse eran las principales habilidades a tomar en cuenta para investigar, con sentido ético y flexibilidad de pensamiento. Los estudiantes mostraron un decremento en la actitud conforme avanzaban de año en la universidad con p<0.05. Conclusiones: La actitud hacia la investigación de los estudiantes de enfermería a distancia, fue de mala a regular, por lo que el presente sienta las bases para futuras intervenciones en las cuales se trate de mejorar la actitud y disposición a la investigación a distancia.

An application of the caritative caring approach – nursing students’ experiences of practising caring and uncaring encounters by simulation at a clinical training centre

Purpose

Nurses’ lack of competence to be caring affects patients’ health and patients describe a desire for more individual and compassionate care. Nursing education tends, however, to focus less on the caring approach in nursing practice and more on developing knowledge in psychomotor skills. The aim of this study was to describe nursing students’ experiences of simulating caring and uncaring encounters founded on the caritative perspective at a Clinical Training Centre (CTC).

Method

A qualitative, inductive approach using a qualitative latent content analysis. Written reflections of 49 students were analysed.

Findings

By intertwining reflection with acting and observation, the students experienced that they achieved an open mind and gained an understanding of how important it was to treat the patient based on a caring approach. To act, first uncaring and thereafter caring, gave them an awakening. The students were touched and an overwhelming feeling of suddenly understanding human uniqueness and vulnerability appeared.

Conclusions

To simulate caritative caring and uncaring encounters at the CTC enhanced students’ knowledge and understanding about caring and strengthened their prerequisites to acquire a caritative ontological basic view and attitude which in the long run may lead to an increased feeling of patient well-being in the encounter.

Theories informing technology enhanced learning in nursing and midwifery education: A systematic review and typological classification

BACKGROUND

Learning is a complex process involving internal cognitive processes and external stimuli from curricula, pedagogical strategies, and the learning environment. Theories are used extensively in higher education to understand the intricacies of adult learning and improve student outcomes. Nursing and midwifery education uses a range of technology enhanced learning (e-learning) approaches, some of which are underpinned by theoretical frameworks.

OBJECTIVE

Synthesise literature on theories that inform technology enhanced learning in nursing and midwifery education.

DESIGN

A systematic review.

DATA SOURCE

CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE and PubMed were searched for relevant studies (2000-2021). Reference lists of related literature reviews were hand searched.

REVIEW METHODS

Title and abstract, followed by full texts were screened by two reviewers independently using predefined eligibility criteria. Quality appraisal was not undertaken. Data were extracted and Merriam and Bierema's typology of adult learning theories used to categorise theories in each study.

RESULTS

Thirty-three studies were included, incorporating twenty-nine distinct learning theories from the behaviourist, cognitivist, constructivist, and social cognitivist domains, with constructivist being the most widely used. Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory and Driscoll's Constructivist Learning Theory were the most commonly reported theories. The population of learners were mainly undergraduate nursing students who used a range of online, mobile, blended or computerised learning, virtual reality, or digital forms of simulation, primarily in university settings. Theories were employed to inform the technology enhanced learning intervention or to help explain how these could improve student learning.

CONCLUSION

This review highlighted a range of theories, particularly constructivist approaches, that underpin research on technology enhanced learning in nursing education, by informing or explaining how these digital interventions support learning. More rigorous research that examines the myriad of theoretical frameworks and their effectiveness in informing and explaining technology enhanced learning is needed to justify this approach to pedagogical nursing research and practice.

Engaging nursing students in a COVID-19 Point-of-Care rapid screening clinic

Background

The COVID‐19 pandemic has globally impacted nursing education, particularly clinical learning opportunities for undergraduate nursing students.

Purpose

In this paper, we report on an educational activity wherein students participated in a COVID‐19 Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) clinic on a Canadian university campus.

Methods

Between February–April 2021, in the second term of a five‐term accelerated program, nursing students (n = 60) participated in a nurse‐led COVID‐19 RAT clinic for students and staff living or working in congregate housing. Students participated in education activities which exposed nursing students to the full range of community health nursing roles in a pandemic.

Results

From clinical, research, policy, and public health, this educational activity acted as a microcosm of the critical roles that nurses employ in the health ecosystem.

Conclusion

We offer lessons learned about implementing this activity, and how these lessons can be applied to routine and exceptional nursing curriculum.

Race, gender, and ethnicity differences of nursing students' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

The coronavirosus disease caused physical, mental, and social stress to humans; however, the human impact was not balanced and proportionately distributed to all people; especially nurses. This study explored nursing students' lives affected by the pandemic.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of COVID-19 and the pandemic on students' experiences across different races, genders, and ethnicities.

Method

This cross-sectional study sought to investigate significant differences in reported experiences of nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic based upon race, gender, and ethnicity classifications. A survey was developed to collect the data.

Results

A national sample of 616 student responses was analyzed. Significant differences were found in the pairwise comparisons. The differences found among the diverse student classifications revealed variations in survey responses to classes moved to on-line, interactions with peers, COVID-19 testing, fear/anxiety, and test performance.

Conclusion

The research adds knowledge about nursing students' experiences during the pandemic; especially unrepresented students from diverse backgrounds. The findings from this study suggested nursing students reacted differently based on race, ethnicity, and gender.

Teaching presence predicts cognitive presence in blended learning during COVID-19: The chain mediating role of social presence and sense of community

With the continuous lockdown and staying home strategies of COVID-19, both instructors and learners have met with the presence challenges in language learning. To address the complex and dynamic relationships of different presences in blended learning during COVID-19, based on the Community of Inquiry framework, 215 Chinese English learners were obtained as samples for an empirical test. SPSS 23 and PROCESS for SPSS were utilized to examine the hypotheses. Results indicate that teaching presence (TP) has a significant direct positive impact on social presence (SP), sense of community (SoC), and cognitive presence (CP). SP has a significant positive impact on CP and partially mediates the relationship between TP and CP. SoC is also found to impact CP and partially mediates the relationship between TP and CP. The findings also validate the chain mediating role of SP and SoC between TP and CP. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Learning and quality of life in undergraduate nursing students: An exploratory study in Chile during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic that has modified all social and, especially, learning instances. The purpose of this study was to determine the perception of final-year nursing students at a university in southern Chile regarding the impact of the pandemic on their learning, and consequently on their quality of life, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a qualitative study. The research was conducted on 14 nursing students who were selected from a university located in the province of Talca, Maule Region, Chile. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews conducted during July and September 2021. The data were analyzed using the inductive logic of theoretical categorization; this process was assisted by the Nvivo 10 program.

RESULTS

Two mega categories were generated that accounted for the nursing students' experience during the COVID-19 pandemic: objective factors category and subjective factors category. Six subcategories were derived from these two categories: free time, social relationships, learning from practice, physical exercise, eating habits, and emotional state.

CONCLUSION

The research findings indicate that the students, in addition to feeling upset about not being able to do the internship, also feel that they have not been able to acquire all the knowledge necessary for their training and professional development, since the virtual classes fail to deliver adequate learning as they lack the practical component that is so important in their careers. This has repercussions in the physical, social, and psychological areas, affecting their quality of life.

Trauma-Informed Pedagogy to Foster Resilience in Graduate Nursing Education

ABSTRACT

The experiences of graduate nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitate a trauma-informed approach to education. Three hundred graduate nursing students responded to a discussion assignment in a doctoral-level health care policy course. Thematic analysis identified common themes of fear, anxiety, frustration, and exhaustion (n = 93). Conflict and strain were identified in relation to all major roles (provider, student, and family member), ultimately creating physical and mental barriers to fulfilling each of the roles. Curricular standards must maintain rigor while incorporating flexibility into design standards to assist students when faced with trauma or crisis.

Virtual Health Assessment Laboratory Course Delivery and Nursing Student Clinical Judgment: A Mixed-Methods Exploratory Study

BACKGROUND

It is essential to explore virtual learning experiences to identify their impact on nursing students' learning.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the virtual delivery of a health assessment laboratory course and nursing students' clinical judgment.

METHODS

Using a mixed-methods explanatory sequential design, the investigators appraised the final laboratory examinations of both in-person and virtual delivery cohorts using the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR) and then interviewed faculty members.

RESULTS

The LCJR total mean scores (mean = 10.64) and mean scores for Effective Noticing (mean = 3.48) were higher for the virtual delivery students. The faculty reported that virtual delivery advances students' critical appraisal skills related to subjective assessment but advocated for in-person delivery to develop physical examination techniques.

CONCLUSION

Although the mean clinical judgment scores were higher for the students whose course delivery was virtual, in-person experiences are necessary to develop psychomotor techniques to prepare students for clinical practice.

Nurses' Perspectives of Their Impact While Serving on Boards

OBJECTIVE

The study objective was to identify nurses' perceptions of their impact while serving on boards.

BACKGROUND

Nurse leaders serving as voting board members are key experts for board effectiveness and may be associated with stronger performing organizations. Extant research indicates that nurse leaders are qualified for board service; however, no research explores the impact of nurses on boards.

METHODS

We conducted an exploratory qualitative study by interviewing 20 nurses serving on boards. Hermeneutic analysis of the data resulted in 1 overarching pattern and 7 traversing themes.

RESULTS

Nurses who serve on boards reported leveraging expert knowledge of healthcare and caring wisdom to influence strategic thinking to meet stakeholder needs.

CONCLUSION

Nurses promote effective board governance by ensuring that the perspectives and needs of all stakeholders are represented in board processes. We recommend health-related organization executives and board leaders appoint nurses as voting members of their governing boards.

The effectiveness of the virtual patient-based social learning approach in undergraduate nursing education: A quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

In nursing education, knowledge and competence in conducting physical assessments are crucial. Therefore, physical assessment knowledge has become a fundamental and essential education program for nursing students. However, most of the current nursing courses are taught via a didactic teaching approach, making it difficult for students to think deeply about relevant issues due to the lack of interaction and context. This may, in turn, have an impact on learning effectiveness and clinical judgment.

OBJECTIVE

A virtual patient (VP)-based social learning approach is proposed to enhance nursing students' performance and clinical judgment in education programs.

DESIGN

A quasi-experiment method was adopted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 40 senior nursing students participated in the study (VP-based social learning approach group = 20, control group = 20).

METHODS

The study involved a pre- and post-test to examine students' learning achievements, self-efficacy, and communication skills. The experimental group adopted the VP-based learning approach, while the control group adopted the conventional didactic learning approach. ANCOVA was employed to compare the performances of the two groups.

RESULTS

The experimental results indicate that using a VP for learning can enhance students' learning achievements, self-efficacy, and communication skills. In addition, based on the analysis of the results, students generally believed that learning with a VP makes learning more enjoyable.

CONCLUSION

The VP-based social learning approach would be an effective strategy to train nursing students who have limited opportunities to experience real clinical situations, in particular during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Humanized Care From the Nurse-Patient Perspective in a Hospital Setting: A Systematic Review of Experiences Disclosed in Spanish and Portuguese Scientific Articles

Nowadays, humanized care is an essential component in the field of health because the professional work of nursing seeks to provide quality services to patients who are suffering and fear illness or the dying process. Nurses recognize the need to incorporate humanized care into their daily work, as supported by Jean Watson, who states that caring entails establishing an adequate nurse–patient therapeutic relationship, where health education is a tool that promotes self-care in the patient, family, and community. The main objective of this work was to find scientific evidence on humanized care from the perspectives of nurses and hospitalized patients. To meet those research objectives, an exploratory systematic review of articles published in high-quality scientific journals from 2016 to 2020 using the PRISMA methodology in the Scopus and Scielo databases was conducted, yielding 26 studies that were analyzed. The findings show that nurses and patients perceive the need to remove the barriers that limit the advancement of humanized care in hospital institutions because they urgently demand that health professionals in all settings, especially critical ones, strengthen their humanizing role by sharing cordial, empathetic health experiences, and respecting their customs and beliefs during the hospitalization process. As a conclusion of the findings, the nurse–patient professionals agree that health personnel training is critical to providing humanized attention with quality in the hospital context, emphasizing that professional training should develop in practice soft skills, communication, safety environment, and human values.

Students, Stress, and the Pandemic: An Occupational Health Perspective for Nursing Education

BACKGROUND

Nursing students have high risk factors for stress, and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic underscored weaknesses in mitigating nursing student stress and supporting well-being. Occupational health uses proven frameworks and perspectives for understanding and mitigating health risks, and promoting worker wellness. Nurse educators can draw from this knowledge to implement system-level changes in support of a safe and healthy learning environment.

METHOD

This article describes the use of an occupational health strategy to create healthier educational environments.

RESULTS

Applying occupational health concepts to nursing education supports honest appraisal of mental health dangers to students, offers keys to managing student health risks, and provides effective approaches for communicating risks with mitigation tactics.

CONCLUSION

An occupational health and safety perspective creates a lens through which nursing stress resulting from the pandemic can be viewed and managed creatively using a holistic approach to mitigate harm from stress in the nursing educational setting. [J Nurs Educ. 2021;60(12):674-679.].

Student Perceptions of Academic Engagement and Student-Teacher Relationships in Problem-Based Learning

Students' academic engagement depends on a variety of factors that are related to personal learner characteristics, the teacher, the teaching methodology, peers, and other features in the learning environment. Components that influence academic engagement can be cognitive, metacognitive, affective, social, task-related, communicative, and foreign language-related. Rather than existing in isolated spheres, the factors contributing to an individual's academic engagement intertwine and overlap. The relationships students cultivate with others are prominent in several of these areas. Positive interpersonal relationships enhance individuals' enthusiasm for learning (Mercer and Dörnyei, 2020), which benefits sustainable learning success and self-confidence. The relationships between students and teachers and the perceptions students have of their teachers seem to be particularly influential on students' engagement in academic undertakings. Problem-based learning (PBL), a teaching approach particularly suitable for tertiary education, involves students in authentic problem-solving processes and fosters students' self-regulation and teamwork. Intensive relationship-building is one of the key characteristics of this student-centered approach (Amerstorfer, 2020). The study reported in this article explores the connection between the academic engagement of 34 students and their perceptions of three instructors in a teacher education program for pre-service English teachers in Austria. An online questionnaire was used to investigate the participants' perceived academic engagement (effort, dedication, learning success) in a university course that implements PBL as its underlying teaching methodology in comparison to conventional teaching approaches. The study further examines how the students perceived the course instructors' caring, credibility, communication style, and feedback, which leads to new information about how PBL shapes student-teacher relationships. Due to Covid-19, the otherwise face-to-face course was taught online.

Tablet PC-based competency evaluation for nursing students in three Asian countries: Cross-sectional comparative study

AIM

This study evaluated a practical competency evaluation for nursing students in three Asian countries using tablet PC-based tests. The need to evaluate practical competencies in a non-face-to-face manner continues to pose challenges in nursing education.

DESIGN

This study presents descriptive comparative research on a tablet PC-based evaluation of practical competencies in three countries.

METHODS

tablet PC-based clinical practice competency evaluation was conducted among nursing college students in Korea, Vietnam and Mongolia. In total, 124 students answered 65 questions for practical competency evaluation and items on its usefulness.

RESULTS

Students from Korea had the highest score of nursing competencies (41.6 points; n = 59, SD 6.02), followed by those from Vietnam (26.3 points; n = 30, SD 4.97) and Mongolia (18.4 points; n = 35, SD 5.36). Scores for usability showed an inverse relationship with competency scores. Questions incorporating video showed the lowest proportion of low-discrimination items.

CONCLUSIONS

This research recognized that using video which provides contextual elements can increase item discrimination. These findings suggest that incorporating video into evaluation items in tablet-PC-based tests is useful for international comparison.

A national survey of the impact of COVID-19 on personal, academic, and work environments of nursing students

Background

Nursing students are experiencing life changing events in their personal, academic, and work environments since the onset of the pandemic.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to describe and explore the effects of COVID-19 on personal, workforce, and academic experiences of nursing students (N = 620).

Method

A 68-item survey with three areas of focus surrounding academic, workforce and personal experiences was distributed to multiple schools across the United States. The analysis compares student responses from the five regions of the US.

Findings

Significant differences were found in the pairwise comparisons. The analysis revealed the academic changes were generally viewed as negative. Fear/anxiety and political influences impacted the outcomes of the pandemic.

Discussion

Understanding the effects of the pandemic on the personal, work and academic experiences of nursing students will assist academia and healthcare in adapting existing policies to meet student needs in the various regions of the United States.

Reducing the Negative Impact of Social Distancing Through Intentional Connectedness

ABSTRACT

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in both positive and negative effects. Nursing education was significantly impacted by the necessity of remote learning and absence of clinical experiences. The purpose of this article is to discuss how intentionality in social connectedness can combat the negative impact of social distancing in nursing education. Lessons learned and strategies employed by nursing educators during the intentional application of social connectedness are presented.

Faculty perspectives on transitioning public health nursing clinical to virtual in response to COVID-19

The COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted the need for public health nursing as an integral part of a strong public health workforce. However, it has also created challenges in preparing future nurses as much of nursing instruction, including clinical experiences, needed to urgently transition learning to a virtual environment. This paper describes the process faculty experienced during spring 2020 to quickly transition public health nursing clinicals from in‐person to virtual learning in response to COVID‐19. Further, faculty lessons learned are shared and include the importance of creating a supportive team dynamic, embracing innovation, continuing to engage with community partners, and adapting to meet emerging student needs during the evolving pandemic. The process and lessons learned may act as a guide for other nursing programs as we continue to navigate nursing education during this and future pandemics.

Implementing the National Incident Management System at schools of nursing in response to COVID-19

Unprecedented financial and logistical barriers in educating nurses during COVID-19 have threatened nursing education. The purpose of this article is to provide a template to facilitate the maintenance and stability of teaching and learning in a pandemic environment for nursing school administration and faculty leaders. The National Incident Management System (NIMS), previously used in training nurses for emergency preparation and response, has been applied as a guiding framework. The framework consists of five elements: Preparedness, Communication/Information Management, Resource Management, Command and Ongoing Management/Maintenance. This paper addresses how schools of nursing may apply each of these elements to address both the needs of the institution and community. The Comprehensive Vulnerability Management paradigm is further offered as a lens for professional development. Free preparedness education is showcased from leading nursing and healthcare professional and government organizations. Finally, the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses competencies are used for integrating NIMS and social dimensions of disaster. Such tools may equip academic leaders at schools of nursing to surmount challenges posed by the pandemic, and to ensure educational readiness to respond to global health crisis through use of the NIMS framework.