This was the backseat of my car this morning – nursing books, accreditation stuff, donkey treats, Wonder Dust (good stuff for injuries/sores on the donkeys), 
and some backup feed, in case we can’t get hay for the donkeys. The hatch was full, too, of timothy hay cubes in bags. The barn owner where my donkeys stay is fantastic and assures me there is plenty of hay, but, honestly, two weeks ago I wouldn’t have fathomed that there would be no toilet paper or eggs to be found in the grocery store, so I figure that being prepared isn’t a bad thing.
One of the most frequent questions I’m getting is: what’s going to happen this summer? Once again, I have to say that I don’t know. Before we can make a decision about what we’ll offer this summer, we need to get some information from the Board of Nursing. The Board meets on April 2. I do not believe that I’ll have answers for you on April 2. We will still need to discuss things.
Many of you have asked why we can’t just move to online simulation activities instead of in-hospital simulations. The answer to that is not easy. First, that is something that we need to review and then, probably, purchase for student use. Purchasing at the College is a tad lengthy, much different than running to the grocery store and handing over money. And there are good reasons for that, as we need to be good stewards of the money the College has. Spending money that comes from students and other sources should be rigorously reviewed and examined. That is the way to be responsible.
Then, we are one of the programs in the area with the most robust and rigorous clinical experience. We send great nurses out to the community and one of the reasons that we can do this is because we have very high clinical hours in the acute care setting. We do not make foundational changes in our curriculum on a whim. We are guided and bound by more than the Board of Nursing rules. We are an accredited program and we have a curriculum that encompasses guidance from several different sources, such as the National League for Nursing, the Florida Department of Education, and Quality and Safety Education for Nursing, to name only a few. Additionally, faculty members guide curriculum and decisions about how we proceed need to be led by faculty. Right now, all of your faculty members are putting together their classes to function in a completely new manner. That is time-consuming and intense work. To ask them to make decisions about what the summer will look like today, would asking too much.
So, what can you do? You can take advantage of the time you have to learn the absolute most that you can in your current class. This is an unprecedented disaster, but also an unprecedented opportunity. This morning I was in my office on Central campus, working with an IT specialist to transfer some equipment to the IT department to assist faculty in other departments. In the course of our conversation, he said this: Nothing is going back to the way it was last Friday. This is an event that will change our nursing program. That is not necessarily all bad. Good things will come from this. You will be more flexible, more adaptable, and meet challenges that you never thought you’d need to meet. You’ll be stronger, more confident, and a better nurse in the long run. Our nursing programs will emerge from this stronger than ever.
What else can you do? Support your classmates. Some of us have more challenges than others. Be positive, be kind, be a friend. Give everyone grace. Be patient. Make sure that you are doing what you can to take care of yourself. Exercise, eat write, get outside if you can, and make time for both physical and mental breaks.
Even though I don’t have the answers you want, I hope that you’ll continue to keep in touch. Comment here or send me an email. I’m praying for all of us.
Thank you for your update. Is there still hope trends students can still graduate in May? Or has that ship sailed?
There is hope. We need more information after the Board of Nursing meeting on April 2nd. Currently, if you’re not in the hospital doing clinicals then you should do the assignments that your faculty assign. Based on information we JUST got from College administration, we won’t have candlelighting on May 6th. Whether we can reschedule that to a later date or not we don’t yet know.
Thank you for the update! Should other classes (such as those set to graduate in August) still have hope as well? I’m trying to remain positive and using that to push through this time while still studying and trying to pass theory. Thanks again!
I think that it’s almost for certain that your graduation date will be delayed. I don’t say that flippantly, I can empathize with how hard that is to hear. But this is the reality.
Yeah I’ve been trying to slowly come to terms with that possibility so it’s not as hard to hear if it should become a definite. Should we still wait to hear if there’s possibility for us to make up the clinical and stay on track or for concessions from the Board of Nursing? I appreciate you taking time to provide answers when possible.
I’ve pretty much been saying since Monday that everyone should anticipate their graduation will be delayed. The good thing is that each of us determines our attitude, not the circumstances. We didn’t cancel Trends clinicals because we felt like there might be a way for them to graduate in May. I’m making no guarantees on that, but we’ll see. I truly believe that for everyone else, graduation will likely be later than anticipated. I could always be wrong. I’m just trying to be truthful.
When I was at the bedside, not that terribly long ago, I found that being honest and preparing patients for what might happen headed off a lot of problems. The truth is that patients may wait all day to go to the cath lab, the OR, radiology. And they’ll be NPO for that whole time! Then, even after their test, they may not hear the results any time soon. So they STILL won’t be able to eat or drink. I told them the truth – as much as the patients/families, the OR/cath lab/radiology staff want to get these procedures done. The reality is that the physicians are seeing patients, have emergencies, have cases run long. Right now, as much as students, the faculty and staff want you to graduate on time. But the reality is that we don’t have an endless supply of nursing faculty or clinical sites. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. But know that your attitude always determines your altitude.
I LOVE that quote at the end. Again appreciate you and the rest of the nursing staff.
Thank you for the update. It is so appreciated. Can classes expected to graduate in August hold out hope as well? Getting any positive feedback helps to remain in the positive mind set. I’m sure I’m not alone in that. You’re awesome for providing us with up to date information it is so appreciated.
You will graduate, but it will likely be later than you expected. I don’t want to mislead you. There are so many unknowns. The good thing is that mindset is completely within our own control. Take a bit to be mad, sad, etc. Then realize that if your goal is to be a nurse, a few months don’t matter in the whole scheme of things. I can’t make promises that I likely can’t keep.
Will those of us taking a lecture component without a clinical have the possibility of moving forward with the rest of our courses in the summer…? Thank you.
Once again, we do not have a plan for this summer. We cannot make a plan at this time.
Thanks for the continuous updates, my question for you is that I already registered for my summer classes before my clinical was cancelled: Should I drop those classes too or hold out hope that I can still continue on with that schedule?
If you paid for these classes and you need the money back, then you should consider dropping them, but I can’t give you absolute advice on that. Again, I can only say that we need to wait.
Goodmorning Dr.Turpel,
I just wanted to ask if all the options are going to be considered for the other current clinicals in addition to Trends? I wanted to ask not only just to know but also because I’ve been hearing from people I know who attend other programs in the area that they’re doing remote clinical or even just case studies as given by their professors to fulfill the requirement. Thank you, I know there aren’t definite answers but always appreciate anything.
If you are in a Trends clinical course right now then you should absolutely be doing the assignments provided by the instructor. These will count for some of the requirements. One of the things I’ve said over and over here is that while I understand that you all have questions, I’ve already given all of the answers I have. I’m not holding back answers for just the right person to ask me. I’m being as upfront and truthful as I can. We are literally 10 days into the session. I’m at the point of not being able to figure how many different ways to say that you need to keep up with your current classes and wait. Especially at this time in your education, there are many things you can do – you can get your resume together, you can practice interviewing, you can study for your NCLEX, you definitely should be completing any and all assignments that you are given at this time, as they are not optional. You don’t want to be in the situation of thinking that the assignments aren’t required and then we get permission to finish out with simulation and you have done your assignments.
If you mean in other clinical courses, I’ve said several times that you will have to be patient and wait. In my post yesterday, I explained our position and our practices with regards to clinicals. I can’t emphasize enough that you are in the Broward College Nursing Program and not another nursing program. I cannot speak to what other programs specifically are doing.