Published in the Asheville Citizen-Times, March 27, 2020
As the need for registered nurses grows amid the coronavirus pandemic, local schools educating the next generation of RNs are adapting to ensure undergraduate students complete requirements needed to earn their degree and enter the health care field.
Scott Pearson, the interim dean of Mars Hill University’s undergraduate nursing program, described a “fairly dynamic situation the last two weeks” as local hospitals made moves that prevented nursing students from completing hands-on training hours needed to become an RN. As the coronavirus threat spread across the state and country, both Mission Hospital and the Veterans Administration ended programs in March that offered local nursing students clinical experience under faculty supervision.
Mars Hill University worked to ensure seniors weeks from graduation could complete the clinical requirements needed to become an RN. (Photo: Courtesy Mars Hill University)
While the changes came in order to protect students from potential exposure to COVID-19, according to Pearson, the school’s seniors were left weeks away from graduating without a way to complete the 120 hours of clinical experience needed to earn a diploma.
“The whole system was in jeopardy,” Pearson said.
Nursing board changes
As hospitals across the state instituted policies similar to those at Mission and the VA, the North Carolina Board of Nursing recognized the roadblock and changed policy to allow remote instruction as a way to satisfy clinical requirements.
“We’ve created a combination of video conferencing and video instruction, where students watch a video and are then assessed to see if they understand the material and have built the necessary skill,” Pearson said of the new setup that clears the way for Mars Hill students to complete clinical hours. Pearson said the arrangement works within the distance learning setup currently in place at the school, where the coronavirus pandemic has closed the campus through the end of the academic year.
A-B Tech has instituted similar changes for its nursing class of 2020. “Senior nursing students have completed or will complete enough clinical hours, through either on-site or virtual clinical experiences, to complete their requirements for graduation on-time,” Christy Andrews, chair of the school’s nursing programs, wrote in an email. “Students who are not in their last semester will have an opportunity to resume clinical and complete the number of clinical hours remaining once the facilities are able to reopen to students.”
While permitting online instruction to meet clinical requirements cleared one hurdle for rising RNs, another stood in their way: the nurse licensing exam. With social distancing measures in place across North Carolina, testing sites where students would normally sit for the required exam were shuttered.
Again, the state nursing board took action, instituting a “graduate nurse” status that allows nurses who have earned their degree to practice under RN supervision. Students who gain the approval of their school’s nursing program director can apply for the temporary permit, which will remain valid until sitting for the exam is again possible.
The temporary status will also allow retired and inactive nurses to reenter the workforce and help combat the coronavirus, according to Julia George, CEO of the NC Board of Nursing. “We know it is critically important to get nurses in the pipeline as soon as possible,” George said in a statement.