By Kat Bryant
Grays Harbor News Group
When a whole new approach was prescribed for teaching during a pandemic, the Grays Harbor College nursing department handled it — stat.
“We worked all through spring break to get this done so we won’t have to extend our end students into the summer. My faculty has worked really hard to move into online format to reach out to our students,” said Carol O’Neal, GHC’s associate dean of nursing.
“Traditionally, much of most nursing curriculum is a live, face-to-face format,” added nursing faculty member Kim Cristobal. “With Carol’s leadership, 30 second-year students’ graduation at stake and 30 first-year students still trying to understand the logistics of nursing curriculum, we banded together, made checklists, created Plan ‘A’ and then revised it to Plan ‘B,’ etc.
“This is how teamwork and collaboration is supposed to work,” Cristobal added, “and it has worked well.”
O’Neal explained that procedures had to be revised for the three types of learning required for a nursing certification or degree: classroom, lab and clinical work.
Classroom instruction was the easiest to adapt, with lectures being shifted online via Zoom and other applications.
Lab work also proved not to be a major hurdle, as GHC’s nursing laboratory rooms are well-equipped to implement the extra safety measures mandated by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (which follows guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
One such precaution is having separate doors designated for entry and exit. “All of our labs have two doors, and now they are clearly marked,” O’Neal said. For proper distancing, she added, “we’ll cycle students through the lab.” All students will be screened for illness before entering a lab; wear masks inside; and wash their hands according to CDC protocols.
The third type of learning, clinical work, is proving a bit tougher. Students in nursing and certified nursing assistant (CNA) programs are federally required to work for a specified number of hours in actual health care settings, such as hospitals and long-term care facilities.
CNAs perform basic patient care such as feeding, bathing and dressing, as well as other duties involving close patient interaction. “CNA is particularly challenging as we partner with facilities where our most vulnerable population resides,” said O’Neal. “Ideas are being floated to make this work in a safe manner.”
GHC is not offering its next CNA course until fall, so they’ll have some time to figure that out. The fall course is already full, with 20 students enrolled and 15 on the wait list.
“Getting them through that to get their certification will involve a lot of collaboration, but we will make it happen,” O’Neal said.
To supplement lab and clinical work, GHC faculty members also are creating virtual simulations, O’Neal said. “This immerses students in a case in a hospital setting. They’ll have same number of distractors that a real nurse has, and the student has to make critical priority decisions.”
Even testing is being moved online with the use of a secured browser, O’Neal said.
“It has been a real learning experience because it’s been a fluid environment, changing from day to day,” she said.
No one is yet certain how long the extra safety protocols will need to remain in place. But O’Neal believes some of the innovations and adaptations made during this time will endure.
“We’re going to collect some great data and learn important lessons during this time,” she said. “Nursing education will certainly be different in the future, and what it looks like will depend on the data we collect during this modality.”
GHC’s nursing programs
Associate in Applied Science in Nursing: This degree qualifies the graduate to take the licensure exam for registered nursing. In addition, it enables the student to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in one academic year at any accepting university in Washington State.
Associate in Applied Science in Pre-Nursing: This degree is applicable for students planning to transfer to an upper-division Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA): Successful completion of this course qualifies a student to take the Washington State licensure exam. It’s also a prerequisite for entering GHC’s AAS program.
Courtesy photo Debi Brogan and Lisha Schnoor of GHC’s nursing department conduct a clinical group meeting with students via Zoom.
Courtesy image A screenshot of the virtual simulation platform used by the GHC nursing program.
