The value of a redesigned clinical course during COVID-19 pandemic: an explorative convergent mixed-methods study

Abstract

Background The COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 had a significant consequence for nursing students worldwide including limited access to learning situations in clinical rotation. Therefore, this study aims to explore how an innovative redesign of a clinical course in a time of pandemic supported nursing students in learning the fundamentals of care in their first year. The redesign involved the transformation of a traditional hands-on clinical course into a technology-enhanced learning environment. Design This was an explorative convergent mixed-methods study using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Methods Twenty-four first-year nursing students responded to an online questionnaire with open-ended questions. Two nursing students and one faculty member participated in individual online interviews, and three faculty members participated in an online focus group interview. All the data were collected in June 2020. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data using content analysis. The GRAMMS guideline was applied. Results The students achieved the learning outcomes regarding fundamental care, basic physical assessment skills, and clinical reasoning with the help of academic assignments, multimedia learning resources, and virtual patients. Further, six central aspects of the facilitator role in the virtual simulation were identified. The aspect that was considered most valuable involved uncovering the “red thread” between different areas of knowledge in the first year of nursing education; this supported the students to better understand how to think and talk like a nurse. Conclusion This study offers insight into how a technology-enhanced clinical course can foster the learning of fundamental nursing care, basic physical assessment skills, and clinical reasoning skills; enhancing students’ preparedness for clinical hours. Virtual patients’ scenarios contributed to integrating different types of knowledge and skills that are important when providing nursing care for patients in clinical practice. This study also highlighted a gap in pedagogical competence among faculty members with regards to facilitating learning in a technology-enhanced learning environment. Study findings suggest promising pedagogical strategies that should be further developed post-pandemic, in response to the call for a renewal of nursing education using more technologically supported learning designs.

Nurse educators' suggestions for a digital educational resource suitable for undergraduate student nurses' placement studies: Qualitative empirical research

“…According to the educators' suggestions, the design of a digital educational resource should stimulate students to engage in appropriate learning processes, a finding that corresponds with findings in recent studies (Egilsdottir et al, 2022;O'Connor et al, 2022).…”

Association between game metrics in a simulation game and nursing students’ surgical nursing knowledge – a quasi-experimental study

“…The contents of the simulation game scenarios corresponded to the cognitive skills required from surgical nurses [ 1 ], and thus, it could be cautiously stated that the simulation game supported nursing student knowledge in these cognitive areas. The scenarios also enabled students to practice a certain systematic framework or protocol, as in other Nordic studies [ 10 , 25 ], and repeating the same content in a virtual simulation has been found to promote the learning of nursing students [ 9 , 26 ].…”

“…Recent scoping review revealed that teaching pre- and postoperative content has included human patient simulations, virtual simulations, web-based learning, and case studies [ 5 ]. Interactive and motivating virtual simulations may benefit students in their clinical preparedness since they promote systematic patient assessment [ 9 ] which is important skill for surgical nursing. In addition, a desktop virtual reality application for learning preoperative handover enables undergraduate nursing students to be active in the learning activity, which facilitates perceived learning outcomes [ 10 ].…”

Newly graduated nurses use and further development of assessment skills—An in‐depth qualitative study

“…To evaluate patients' needs holistically, assessment skills are needed. Egilsdottir et al (2022) identified increased confidence in using physical assessment as a central part of overall nursing competence during nursing students' clinical rotation courses. The Framework addresses key prerequisites for nurses' person-centred clinical practice related to meeting patients' fundamental needs, and it will be used in this study to discuss the findings with a theoretical perspective.…”