51 NURSING DESIGNED BY OLIVIA DUNN The Carr College of Nursing keeps momentum to serve despite difficulties during the pandemic. THE CARR COLLEGE OF NURSING found pride in exceptional clinical experiences and hands-on instruction. During the pandemic, they had to act quickly to figure out how to continue education on remote learning platforms. Senior nursing student Neil Chandler was in his first semester of nursing school going into the COVID-19 lockdown. “It was a really difficult transition for me in spring of 2020 with online clinicals,” Chandler said. “I felt like I missed out on some valuable learning due to the lack of actual experience with patients. We were lucky that after spring of 2020, we were able to get back to in-person class and attend clinicals, but it is still not the same.” Due to the continuing risk of COVID-19 in 2021, students were prohibited from entering a patient’s room until they received a negative test. “This decreased the amount of patient interactions I had throughout that year and continues to effect clinicals this year,” Chandler said. Senior nursing student Emma Jackson said studying to be a nurse in the middle of a pandemic set forth increased anxiety and stress, but believed that as a group they would be capable in the field because of what they went through. “We became so limited to what we had access to: choices of hospitals due to COVID-19 and not wanting students to expose patients, and online clinical simulations, which brought on potentially feeling not as prepared as nurses who were not in school during a pandemic,” Jackson said. “There was also a higher bar set for us to be proactive in masking and social distancing, so we weren’t bringing germs to our patients in the hospital.” Jackson was thankful that through all of this, the program kept student safety a priority while finding ways to deliver the same standard of education through unprecedented times. Assistant professor of nursing Kimberly Cooper said being back in the hospital caring for patients was difficult, especially during the pandemic. “The new variant has caused nursing students to see death all around,” Cooper said. “Hospitals filled to capacity provides more options for learning, but not when the majority of patients are COVID positive. The students today are seeing destructiveness of compassion, fatigue, exhaustion and burnout far too early in their career. But this reality makes our students more determined to be their best and reach out to those who are suffering each day. Their clinical performance holds more determination with their desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus through this pandemic.” In 2020, the National NCLEX pass rate dropped into the 80% range, but Harding’s pass rate for 2020 was 100%. This test provided many students with licenses to be registered nurses. “This score is a great testament to the faculty, staff and students at the Carr College of Nursing,” Cooper said. “We all worked together to provide and practice the skills needed to make great decisions and succeed, even during a pandemic.” WRITTEN BY HANNAH SEIBERT Click Into Clinic
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