Nursing Students: Unprepared?
Many Lakehead programs are paired with in-person training and hands-on experiences to prepare students for success in their future careers: but just how important is a hands-on placement during a student’s studies? Nursing students wound say “very”.
As the semester comes to an end, many nursing students will have worked through two semesters without the same resources and teaching opportunities as past students. Many students also had to finish the 2020 winter semester online when the pandemic first began. After talking to several nursing students, we’ve found that most are concerned that without the usual level of hands-on experience, they must work harder to catch up to previous graduates and may not be properly prepared for their futures.
When asking a fourth year nursing student planning to graduate this year how Lakehead’s response to the pandemic has affected her last semester, she replied, “It hasn’t really affected me much in fourth year. It’s the younger years. Nursing is something very hands-on and it is crucial to have the in-person experience to safely care for patients, and they’re not getting that.”
Another fourth year was very concerned coming into the 2020-2021 school year after finishing up classes online last year. She describes her third-year experience: “For clinical, I remember being really nervous about getting back into the clinical setting after doing most of it online for third year. [redacted*] My group and I were at a disadvantage because we weren’t exposed to as many skills as those on surgical floors.”
She goes on to state that “I’m not 100% ready to hit the workforce and I hope that when I do, they will be able to provide extra training in consideration of how our education has changed during these times.” As many fourth-year students are preparing for future jobs, other years are now putting in extra work with independent learning.
One second-year student comments, “Independent learning can be a struggle when you want to practise skills on someone or even be able to talk about study material with classmates.” Without the in-class practise, students who may not have friends in the program struggle with making important connections with classmates as well as having access to study groups. Without being able to talk to or ask classmates questions in-person, some students may feel pressured and like they are the only ones not understanding concepts or practises.
Another second-year student states, “Online classes are definitely a challenge. Especially with connection problems, and even issues being able to join zoom calls. Normally we can book practise labs during the week for hour slots to practise those skills before we take them too clinical. With the loss of lab time because of covid regulations, we have not been able to practise, and it’s made it daunting when performing a skill for the first time while being watched by our clinical instructors.”
Nursing is just one of many programs facing these challenges. Many students have lost out on placement opportunities this year and it will affect their studies going into next year.
*The Argus Student Newspaper would like to issue a formal apology to St. Joseph’s Care Home, as well as the School of Nursing at Lakehead University, for the publication of the now-redacted statement. Lakehead deeply values its relationships with the care facilities in Thunder Bay, and the nursing community continues to be extremely grateful for the opportunities that they are given through those facilities.