SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington State University had to adapt to COVID-19 regulations, including doing online classes. For nursing students, that meant changes to how they learned the physical skills necessary for graduation.
One of those new nurses was Alexa Fay, who graduated from WSU in May 2020.
She was in her last semester of nursing school when COVID-19 restrictions started. For Fay, the change affected her final semester of critical learning.
“There’s always sort of this expectation in nursing, like you go through your clinicals then you go to senior practicum and that’s really where you get the meat and bones of what it’s like to be a nurse,” Fay said.
Doctor’s offices started canceling those clinical experiences, to adjust to the changing COVID-19 guidelines.
WSU’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for Graduate Programs Anne Mason said the clinical positions were not feasible while the transition to telehealth was happening. For the students, that meant less in-person experience before graduation.
Online classes also made it hard for students to learn the physical skills necessary to be a nurse.
“[They’re] learning how to do certain procedures and skills in simulated environments before they go out into the clinical environment,” Mason said.
To keep their students on track WSU made changes. They made in-person groups smaller, and required social distancing and masks. In some cases, they even sent students home with equipment to learn from home.
Once clinics started settling into the new COVID-19 restrictions, the university pushed for their students to get back into their clinical positions.
All that work paid off. WSU was able to keep their students on track to complete graduation requirements. 2020 graduating seniors graduated as scheduled in May and entered the workforce.
Mason said most chief nursing officers in our region were thankful for the new class of graduates. The demand for nurses increased, and they were looking to hire new people.
That worked in Fay’s favor as she started applying for jobs. Now, she works in Seattle as a registered nurse in a detox unit.
Fay said despite the changes, she’s happy with how everything worked out.
“It’s just been really interesting to have that be [my] first nursing experience,” she said.