I waved goodbye to my group of pediatrics clinical students during my first semester of teaching in February 2020. I was just starting to build my confidence in my teaching skills in the clinical environment. Little did I know, three weeks later the entire country would “shut down” and I would face unprecedented challenges in my roles as a bedside nurse and an adjunct faculty member at the Widener University School of Nursing.
Here we are, two years later, still facing the obstacles that the COVID-19 pandemic has created. As a novice nurse educator, I learned that there were plenty of challenges that I needed to overcome, but there were also some benefits to teaching clinicals during the height of the pandemic. “It’s a blessing and a curse,” I would tell my colleagues, family, and friends.
I returned to teaching in-person clinicals in the fall 2020 semester. The return was particularly challenging because the circumstances of the pandemic interrupted my pediatrics clinical group’s ability to apply what they learned virtually, such as a head-to-toe patient assessment, in the clinical setting. Recognizing that they had never listened to a patient’s heart or lungs before, let alone a pediatric patient, I adjusted my teaching approach to set my students up for success. I offered to let my students listen to my lungs so they could establish what normal sounded like. Afterward, I had them come with me into a patient’s room, and I demonstrated how to systematically conduct a head-to-toe assessment on a pediatric patient. I then accompanied my students to meet their patients, assisted them with completing their assessments, and addressed any questions they had. As the semester progressed, I was able to review policies and work with them through patient care procedures like a sterile central line cap change.
While the circumstances of the pandemic have been less than ideal, I used these new rules to build on my teaching techniques. Even though COVID-19 impacted students’ in-person clinical time, the return to in-person resulted in having groups of four students, as opposed to eight, which allowed me to dedicate more hands-on time with each of my students and their patients. Despite a smaller, more interactive group, the lack of post-conference due to social distancing recommendations presented additional hurdles and required that I incorporate different ways to promote my students’ critical thinking skills. Nevertheless, I was able to spend more one-on-one time talking with my students about their patients’ diagnoses, nursing interventions, and other aspects of nursing care. We also discussed how to prioritize interventions and cluster care.
Being a bedside nurse, nursing student, and nurse educator during the COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of a marathon (not that I ever run anyway). While this rollercoaster ride has yet to come to a halt, I have learned so many lessons about how to continue to develop myself as a nurse educator. Through patience, flexibility, and a few mistakes, I have grown into a more passionate faculty member. I truly enjoy watching my students transform each semester as they build their knowledge and confidence in patient care, and I plan to keep doing so in order to continue growing the nursing workforce.
