Background The National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties supports the incorporation of telehealth in nurse practitioner (NP) education. Purpose The purpose of this article is to describe the implementation of a no-cost telehealth simulation and its impact on students in their first NP clinical course. Methods Twenty-eight NP students participated in the telehealth objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Students completed an online survey about the impact of telehealth OSCE simulation both before and after the simulation. Results The students' general understanding of the field of telehealth was significantly greater after the telehealth OSCE experience. Directed content analysis revealed 3 themes: usefulness of telehealth, benefit in role preparation, and technology. Conclusion The use of telehealth simulation can be an effective strategy to assess clinical competency, provide individualized feedback, and ensure students are using evidence-based practice.

Background: Collaborative testing is an educational strategy that allows students to work in teams when completing an examination. Method: Twenty-eight family nurse practitioner students took four course examinations individually and collaboratively. Five comprehensive questions were included on the fourth examination. A survey was administered at the end of the course, with permission. Results: All collaborative test scores were higher than the traditional test scores (traditional mean range = 80.78 [8.53] to 84.07 [7.41], collaborative mean range = 93.54 [3.77] to 94.07 [2.80], all p values < .001). Students did not demonstrate significant changes in mean scores for cumulative content on test four. Directed content analysis revealed four themes: Enhanced Understanding of Content, Collaboration With Classmates, Socialization, and Improved Grades. Conclusion: In graduate nursing education, collaborative testing may be an effective strategy to improve teamwork and communication skills, enrich relationships, and enhance critical thinking. [ J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(6):357–359.]

Background: It is important to foster active participation in online graduate nursing courses through creative teaching strategies, such as virtual synchronous debates. Method: A free videoconferencing system was used to complete the virtual synchronous debates. Demographic information and survey data were obtained to assess the impact of an online debate on critical thinking and presentation skills. Results: Seven of the 10 scored survey items had statistically significant differences in preimplementation and postimplementation ranked scores. Five qualitative themes were revealed: predebate anxiety/nervousness, technical issues/online format, learning experience, improved presentation skills, and group work. Conclusion: Through virtual synchronous debates, graduate nursing students can gain a stronger appreciation for ethical issues in health care, learn to succinctly convey their views, and increase their confidence in presenting a professional argument.

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Background: It is important for faculty to prepare nurse practitioner students for their first clinical experiences to ensure student success.Purpose: The purpose of this project was to implement a preclinical immersion and determine student perceptions about this experience. Methods: A half-day preclinical immersion was instituted at the beginning of the family nurse practitioner students' first clinical course. Demographic information and survey data were obtained before the preclinical immersion experience, after completion of the immersion experience, and during the last 2 weeks of the first clinical course. Results: Students' ratings of their clinical skills and knowledge improved during the duration of the semester for 5 of the 7 items. Directed content analysis revealed 3 themes: understanding of clinical expectations, face-to-face interactions with faculty, and cognitive/emotional clinical perceptions. Conclusion: The use of preclinical immersion experiences may both practically and emotionally prepare students for graduate nursing clinical experiences.

Objectives Grit and resilience are related but separate concepts. Grit is a long-term commitment toward goals, and it impacts student success and academic achievement. Resilience is the ability of students to recover from stress. Both are important factors in nursing students. Methods This descriptive study included surveys measuring demographics, grit, and resilience among two cohorts of senior nursing students in their last semester and explored challenges and difficulties experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results The mean grit score for all students was 4.0 (0.52) and the mean resilience score was 3.63 (0.73). Directed content analysis of the ten open-ended survey questions revealed three themes: Impact on Education, Personal Impact, and Coping Mechanisms. Conclusions Grit and resilience are important factors that can contribute to success in nursing programs and as graduate nurses in the healthcare settings.

Background: Tweet-format narratives have been used in medical education to capture student experiences. However, there is a lack of research on tweet-format narratives during experiential learning in nursing education. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to explore the usefulness of tweet-format narratives to capture nursing student experiences and to elicit reflection during a service-learning trip. Methods: Eight bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) students participated in a service-learning experience to Appalachia. A grounded theory approach with three data collection methods was used to determine the usefulness of tweet-format narratives to facilitate student reflection during the event. A free closed text-messaging app was used to house tweet-format narratives. A focus group session and post-survey were conducted at the conclusion of the trip. Emergent themes from each data collection method were compared and modified using iterative techniques and constant comparison analysis until the data were saturated. Results: Focus group responses were reflective in nature and included student elaboration about content themes that were previously identified by the tweet-based narratives. Modification of themes resulted in six final themes of improved skills, cultural competence, patient interaction, socioeconomic factors and health, landscape/clinic setting, and impactful shared experiences. Conclusions: It is important for nursing students to reflect on their experiences during service-learning immersion trips, especially as they relate to underserved rural populations and their unique healthcare scenarios. With the growth of social media, more nursing students are accustomed to communicating in a short, text-based format. The tweet-format narratives in the free closed text-messaging app allowed students to reflect on their experiences through open-ended comments and to communicate with other members of the group. Short text-based narratives can be an effective narrative medicine technique for nursing students participating in service-learning trips in rural areas. Key words:  narrative medicine, rural health, service-learning, technology DOI:  http://doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v20i2.633

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