b'| CAREERS GUIDE CAREERS GUIDEAdjusting on the FlyOne nursing programs journey through COVID-19 andhow it impacted the curriculumBy Rob Senior L isa Kitko has spent most of the past two decades at Theenjoy experiential learning.Pennsylvania State University in various capacities, and theresThats been indefinitely put on hold with COVID. We can no lon-no denying that the past 12 months have been vastly differ- ger get students at any level into those settings. That was a big piece to ent than any others. But shes quick to point out that one thing thatlose.hasnt changed is the enthusiasm shown by nursing students towardFortunately, the program has been able to pivot to simulations, vir-their eventual profession. tual modalities, and other means of attempting to, in a sense, replace Theres a lot of enthusiasm for the profession, which we can seethe irreplaceable. Weve been able to make the pivot, but were not sure in our admissions numbers growing year after year, said Dr. Kitko,how that works, Dr. Kitko explained, in terms of the students being PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, associate dean for graduate education at theable to transition into becoming RNs, NPsgoing from student nurses Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in the College of Nursing. to career nurses.The data backs her up, as a recent preliminary survey fromIn the university community at large, resources play a huge role in theAmerican Association of Colleges of Nursing showed that acrossthe ability to complete such a drastic pivot, and in that sense Dr. Kitko some 900 nursing schools, enrollment was up 6 percent in the yearand Penn State were extremely fortunate. We had already made an 2020. upfront investmentwe have a state-of-the-art simulation lab with But the undeniable differences can be seen in the way students arehigh-fidelity mannequins and other essential equipment. In that sense, learning the profession since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,it was easier for [Penn State] to make the pivot.which affected the second semester of the 2019-2020 school year andBut thats only part of the story. Remember, we werent even allowed has wreaked havoc with 2020-2021 schedules. to have the students on campus.Typically, nursing is a mix of didactic and experiential learning,Regardless of where a Penn State nursing student is physically said Dr. Kitko, and at Penn State, weve really had a big focus on thatlocated, the school has created the ability for that student (or faculty experiential learninggetting our students into the clinical settings,member) to connect to the lab via Zoom call or other means. The stu-ISTOCKbeing in hospital settings or any location where they have the ability todents were thus able to see the simulation staff complete exercises www.elitecme.com |2021| CAREERS GUIDE 17'