Program Changes Post-Pandemic

OceanBossMan263

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Something to pass the time with hypotheticals:
What changes, if any, can you see coming to education as a result of the pandemic (at EMT or other healthcare level)?

Personally, I see the expansion of online learning for didactic portions of programs. One EMT/paramedic school in my area has really been promoting hybrid courses lately, and has also pioneered the hybrid EMT-CC to Paramedic course for NY state. I would like to see online or distance learning become more prevalent in higher medicine education. In addition to the scheduling benefit for students, less disruption in coursework due to school closures would be great.
 

akflightmedic

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1. We have seen many jobs, meetings, etc. be performed online after many years of being told we could not.
2. The CEO of Zoom may become richer than Jeff Bezos....LOL...interesting side note, Jeff gave away half his wealth during the divorce and is STILL the world's richest man.
3. Yes, I think we will finally see a shift of these medical programs who keep insisting on archaic approaches to modern education bend to the new normal and offer classes, experiences, and even clinicals on line. While I dislike the clinical part being online, it is still possible to do part of it that way.
 

E tank

Caution: Paralyzing Agent
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3. Yes, I think we will finally see a shift of these medical programs who keep insisting on archaic approaches to modern education bend to the new normal and offer classes, experiences, and even clinicals on line. While I dislike the clinical part being online, it is still possible to do part of it that way.

Not following 3. How is "clinical" on-line not didactic?
 

Peak

ED/Prehospital Registered Nurse
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Some programs are replacing clinical hours with simulation, I'm not sure how much can be online versus in person.

I think that some of this will have to transition back to the old ways, even if we are limping it along now. Sure staff meetings can be delivered via email but that doesn't work for everything.

Almost all of our shared governance groups have grinded to a halt. How can I possibly run peer review through zoom or any other type of call in or online meeting software? There is no way I can make sure we are protecting communications in a secure manner with any kind of cost efficiency other than meeting in person or secured email, the later of which grinds productivity down to a halt. Even things like research are much more efficient to run in person instead of via some kind of projected access.

Sure, we be able to keep current programs alive remotely, but they certainly are not thriving.
 

akflightmedic

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First, I have not yet said anything publicly on this forum....however I have spent the past two years in RN school. I am a mere 4 weeks away from graduation!!! :)

As for the colleges here...they rapidly did the best they could over our extended spring break (we got two weeks instead of one) and shifted the remaining of our program online. This included making voice over powerpoints, pre-recorded video lectures and also hosting Zoom lectures. For the most part that is working. The challenging part was what do we do about clinical?!

Their plan, which none of us really like or agree to is the best they can do that will still meet our required hours and allow us to graduate on time...so I will take it. As a side note, I did write the Governor and her staffers, along with the Program Chair and the local newspaper pleading for them to just go ahead and allow us to graduate and sit for NCLEX. My emails and phone calls have been ignored, so I have my answer.

Back to clinical...keep in mind we have done clinicals since week 1, semester 1, year 1....and we only had 5 weeks remaining. So this is a total of 48 hours being missed.

On Friday I had my first online clinical. At 0700, two case studies were posted online and they are VERY labor intensive. They are good, but essentially a ton of "busy work". The instructor then starts calling students one by one on the phone and we present our SBAR, state what our plan is, what potential needs and challenges may arise. The instructor asks a ton of questions, conditions, meds etc. You either know or you dont cause it is darn near impossible to google that fast. After all students in our group (8 of us per group) are done with morning calls, we keep working on the busy work. We have lunch from 12-1. After lunch, phone calls start again, this time the instructor throws in something...could be slight lab value change, could be rapid response needed. And we go through the scenario.

At the conclusion of the phone calls, we then have a group Zoom meeting where we present our cases to the rest of our group and discuss. Then we continue with the long *** busy work and submit that by 6pm same day.

THAT is now our clinical....and I have 4 more to go!
 

akflightmedic

Forum Deputy Chief
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And FYI, nursing school sucks....here is some great feedback from this weeks discussion post which also is being used to count as clinical time. The question was tell me how COVID has impacted you personally...blah blah blah.

I mentioned making grocery lists and sticking to them to minimize trips out and not effectively using time in the store. Ithen said, "same goes for alcohol, make a list. And if you wrote 1 bottle, then buy 2"....you know, humor in these times. I got dinged...


Thank you for your posts this week. Please be sure to be professional and abide by the contract signed about professionalism. Speaking about alcohol and making sure you have enough is not appropriate within our discussion posts, as it would not be appropriate in the clinical setting.

Thank you for your cooperation.
 
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