May 2020 health science students all graduate on time despite obstacles

Lipscomb’s creative alternative learning options overcome hurdles to graduation thrown up by COVID-19 pandemic.

Janel Shoun-Smith | 615.966.7078  |  05/12/2020

As cases of COVID-19 began to be reported in Nashville and Tennessee in March, health facilities hosting Lipscomb’s health science students for their clinical rotations began eliminating their experiential education programs for students, causing problems for those 189 health science students looking to graduate in May.

“In the third week of March, every day we had additional facilities announce they were suspending student training,” said Greg Young, associate dean of experiential education in the College of Pharmacy. “The situation with clinical providers was ever-changing from week to week.”

Yet, by commencement on May 2, all the health science students from the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences graduated on time, thanks to innovative alternative solutions from Lipscomb’s faculty and administrators.

Likewise, state boards and agencies in the various disciplines are providing alternative methods to allow graduates to take their licensing exams this spring and summer and be ready to enter the health care market this summer.

Many health facilities in Middle Tennessee were forced to restrict the number of on-site students for a variety of reasons including the limited availability of personal protection equipment, legal liability issues, the halt on elective procedures or simply not having enough patients in that particular area to justify hosting students, said Stephen Heffington, program director for the School of Physician Assistant Studies.

In the College of Pharmacy, some of the 78 graduating P4s were able to remain in their assigned March and April rotation placement and some were shuffled to other available rotations that met the requirements for their remaining 160 needed clinical hours, said Young.

For example, some P4s were shifted to work on the Tennessee Coronavirus Public Information Line set up by the Tennessee Department of Health, earning clinical hours in ambulatory care.

But even after those change-ups, 46 graduating P4s had to complete a portion of the remaining clinical hours through a more didactic alternative learning plan which involved a hybrid of live training (via videoconference) and study in textbooks and online formats, said Jeff Lee, associate dean for academic affairs.

These learning plans jumpstarted the Class of 2020’s studies for the NAPLEX licensing exam, Lee said, with each plan designed specifically for each student based on benchmark assessments of their knowledge at the early end of their clinical rotations.

“We feel that our licensure preparation program is already rigorous, and the 2020 Class is getting a program just as rigorous, if not more so,” Lee said.
The alternative learning plans were developed based on guidance from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, the national accreditation agency for pharmacy degree programs, said Young.

“I have been extremely impressed with the adaptability and resilience of our student pharmacists. They did not fight the situation, but embraced it and demonstrated the flexibility needed to do this,” said Tom Campbell, dean of the College of Pharmacy. “I am thankful for a leadership team that rose to the occasion to faithfully and expertly carry out their duties.”

All 35 of the School of Nursing’s May graduates also completed their degrees on time, said Executive Director Chelsia Harris.

“We have worked exceptionally hard to create high fidelity, virtual, patient care simulations for students to finish out their last few clinical hours,” she said.

Because senior clinical rotations were already scheduled to end by the first week of April, “the majority of our students had already completed most or all of their direct-patient contact clinical hours this semester. Thus, we were in a very blessed position,” Harris said.

To allow graduates to earn their licenses and begin working as soon as possible, both the pharmacy and nursing state licensing organizations are working to schedule students to take their examinations only a few at a time, to allow these graduates to be distanced from each other while taking their exams.

Lipscomb’s first cohort of physician assistants began their second semester of experiential education rotations in 2020 and are on track to graduate in December, said Heffington.

“As of right now, all of the PA students on rotations are on track and have not had graduation delayed due to COVID-19. We have not utilized any simulation or waived any requirements,” he said. “What we have done is spent time recruiting additional sites, rearranging rotation order, recruiting additional preceptors and required students to travel a little more to remote sites less affected.”

Students in kinesiology majors generally earn their 200 hours of required externship hours before the final semester of their senior year, said Ruth Henry, vice chair of kinesiology and nutrition, but a few were earning their hours this spring and were able to complete them through online formats.

For 2020 summer externships, “we are optimistic that students will be able to complete them, although they may have to begin working later in the summer than usual.”

According to Anne Lowery, the 2020 Dietetic Internship cohort had enough practice hours in a variety of settings to be able to finish the program early on May 1, aided by the timely decision of the program’s accrediting body to reduce required hours from 1200 to 1000 due to COVID-19 restrictions impacting student access to hospitals.

Through placements at other partnering organizations using telehealth platforms and use of clinical case studies and simulations, interns were able to achieve all of their supervised practice hours and meet competencies, she said.

No matter the discipline, Lipscomb’s health science graduates for the next few years will have to learn, train and work in a post-COVID health care system.

“There is no hiding from this. Students will have to face it,” said Campbell. “Students will have to be in the presence of patients who tested positive (for COVID-19), and we will make sure their training not only focuses on how to treat the patient, but also how they protect themselves and minimize spread of the virus.”