How to bring the current pandemic into the undergraduate nursing classroom

Unfolding case study

Build an unfolding case study for a client who is diagnosed with Covid-19. Create a client based on your course, such as a patient reporting to the emergency department, a patient at home being seen by the home care nurse or a resident of a skilled nursing facility. Utilize the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) website for Coronavirus (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html) to identify symptoms the client would have. Include the self-symptom checker within the case study for the students to identify the recommended treatment for the client. Have the students create a client education plan to teach the client about their disease process and help to reduce the spread of the disease.

Contact tracing activity

Complete a contact tracing activity with the students. The CDC and John Hopkins University both offer free contract tracing training. Your school may also offer information on how they are completing contact tracing. Using the information you gather, have the students identify the number of people they have come in contact with within the timeframe you identify. Calculate the number of people the class encounters. Have a discussion of how one person being infected with Covid-19 would affect your class and the number of people they encounter and how it can spread easily in gatherings. Incorporate how diseases spread and the importance of how to prevent the spread. If you teach community/public health, contact your local health bureau/department of health to see if there are ways your students can be involved in their contact tracing efforts for clinical hours. This usually involved phone calls, which can be completed for online courses as well.

Create education materials

The students can create educational materials on Covid-19 signs and symptoms, wearing masks appropriately, handwashing, social distancing and/or quarantine. This can include handouts, PowerPoint presentations and videos. Speak to your school, local K-12 schools, retirement communities and other local agencies to see if they can take advantage of this education. Nursing students could provide the education “live” in an online platform if requested.

Journal articles

There is an increasing number of journal articles related to Covid-19. Students can provide article summaries or presentations related to the journal article. If your course has a research paper, consider including topics that can incorporate Covid-19.

Including education on the current pandemic will help to advance the students’ knowledge and bring real life into the classroom.