Baker College

“Students felt that EHR Go and the virtual clinic was “realistic” and gave them the opportunity to practice nursing and using critical thinking that they’d be required to do in a real scenario.”

NURSING

Course description:
A standardized virtual clinical experience for students who missed clinical assignments created in response to the pandemic. Every student who misses a clinical experience that can not be completed at the clinical site, is required to make-up missed clinical hours in a consistent structured program. This program was developed by the School of Nursing simulation coordinator who is a Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator. The program consisted of trained nursing adjuncts who serve as virtual clinical instructors to guide students in the learning experience. The use of EHR Go, Google Docs, and Zoom are the consistent resources needed to create this optimal learning experience. All healthcare students within the college have access to these resources without added expense.

Instructors:
Dr. Sara Wilk and Dr. Lori Dewey

“The School of Nursing simulation coordinator began using EHR Go for clinical make-up during the fall 2018 semester. The campus found that using this product was an effective way to keep the students engaged and encouraged the integration of EHR Go into labs, didactic courses, and high fidelity simulations in addition to its use in clinical make-up hours. In the fall 2020, multiple students were unable to complete clinical hours and required an alternative method to make-up missed hours. It was imperative that students receive consistent, quality make-up clinical education when they were unable to attend in person clinical at a healthcare facility. EHR Go was selected as the tool that would help address these challenges.”

IMPLEMENTATION

Baker College has established a site license for EHR Go, which allows faculty to create a login and password using their college access. New faculty account set up can be facilitated by peer faculty who already have EHR Go accounts, without relying on product representatives. Students only need the EHR Go access code (pin) to set up their accounts and registration instructions are short, simple to follow. These functions eliminate access barriers and contribute to the ease of use. One virtual instructor reported, “even novice users can pick up the program”.

Virtual clinical assignments were created that mimic patient encounters students have in a clinical facility. From the EHR Go patient encounters, students created concept maps, patient profiles, medication cards, learned about diagnostic procedures and lab values, and completed numerous virtual patient assessments. The students charted patient assessments, medication administration, hourly rounding, and focus nursing notes. This and more was done throughout the virtual clinical day and the virtual clinical instructor has access to view what the student completed within the EHR Go patient chart.

“Students shared that the virtual clinical experience was much more interactive and made it easier to learn. They appreciate having a virtual option that made having a clinical possible. Students felt that EHR Go and the virtual clinic was “realistic” and gave them the opportunity to practice nursing and using critical thinking that they’d be required to do in a real scenario.”