Meeting our students' educational needs during a global pandemic: Creating online clinical learning experiences

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Online Learning
• Curriculum Development

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional in-person nursing education.
• Maintaining effective pedagogical strategies in a virtual environment was a significant challenge.
• Undergraduate nursing programs needed to adapt to ensure continuity of learning and achievement of student outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the transition of in-person nursing simulations to online evolving case studies.
• To detail the methods used to maintain key teaching strategies in an online format.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of online evolving case studies in an undergraduate nursing curriculum.

Main Methods:

• Utilized technological resources to create interactive online evolving case studies.
• Incorporated critical thinking questions and video clips to enhance student engagement.
• Focused on core nursing concepts: medication administration, prioritization, communication, patient safety, and clinical judgment.

Main Results:

• Online evolving case studies successfully facilitated the application and synthesis of nursing knowledge.
• Guided reflective activities and discussions promoted meaningful online learning.
• Student and faculty evaluations of the online teaching strategies were overwhelmingly positive.

Conclusions:

• The conversion of in-person simulations to online evolving case studies was successful.
• Online evolving case studies are a viable and effective method for undergraduate nursing education.
• These strategies have been sustained in the curriculum due to their positive outcomes.