Learning Nursing Skills of Practice Virtually: The Rough Ground of Engagement

In spring 2020, nursing education programs abruptly transitioned the teaching and learning of nursing practice skills to virtual environments as the result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

This study sought to describe ethnographically how faculty and students formed and integrated clinical judgment and other nursing practice skills within this quickly formed virtual subculture. Thirty-seven associate-degree nursing students participated in small group interviews, and four faculty participated in one-to-one interviews.

Two overarching themes were identified: (1) the pervading mood of learning through the pandemic; and (2) the primacy of the nursing traditions of direct care experience. Themes were nested further within the five essentials for human learning: curiosity, authenticity, emotion, sociality, and failure.

Virtual simulation cases with focused prebriefing and debriefing sessions provided experiences that were targeted, shared, guaranteed, and safe. Adequately supported virtual simulation platforms can enhance the learning of nursing skills. [.