The abrupt transition to teaching clinical skills using remote modalities during the pandemic created a unique problem for the College of Health & Social Sciences. In this podcast episode, moderator Carrie Holschuh, Ph.D., associate professor of Nursing, checks in with Kathleen Shea, Ed.D., MSN, RN, CHSE, assistant professor of Nursing; Sarah Pawlowsky, PT, DPT, OCS, associate clinical professor of Physical Therapy; and Tiffany O'Shaughnessy, Ph.D., associate professor of Counseling, to discuss how each department adjusted to the changes.
The School of Nursing, Department of Physical Therapy and Department of Counseling all had their own struggles with accrediting bodies and the shift to remote learning. In the Department of Physical Therapy, instructors had to use their children and partners to demonstrate techniques for students. Nursing instructors resorted to unorthodox measures to teach their students clinical skills, including using hollowed out grapefruits to demonstrate how to pack wounds. Because telehealth was not authorized prior to the pandemic, continuing education providers in Counseling had to produce crash courses on telehealth to get their students up to speed. The importance of community and the benefits of recording classes using closed captioning are also highlighted.