As you have been informed via email from Dean Anderson (see below), all clinical activities are officially suspended for two weeks so that we can closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are your next steps:

1. Please make sure your preceptor has your clinical evaluation to evaluate your performance.

2. Please notify your preceptor that your clinical faculty (Dr. Garrett or Mr. Hennage) will be reaching out via phone to discuss your clinical performance. (No onsite visits for now).

3. If you are exposed to the virus, please notify me immediately so that we can track any exposures.

We are working diligently to develop a plan for your clinical progression.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Dr. Wall

Susan M. Wall, DNP, FNP-BC
Tusculum University
MSN Program Diector/Assistant Professor
423-636-7431 office
swall@tusculum.edu

Earlier Update from Dean Anderson:

Greetings!

This communication pertains to your clinical activities that you are participating in.  This semester you are involved in clinical activities with the Family Nurse Practitioner Program.  Due to the evolving situation of the Coronavirus, the decision has been made to suspend all clinical activities starting immediately through March 28, 2020.  The situation of the pandemic COVID-19 will be continually monitored and we may need to further adjust the suspension of clinical activities so please continue to monitor the communication coming from the university and your program.  We are hopeful that the situation will change and we can be back in clinicals before the end of the semester but at this time that is difficult to determine.  Dr. Wall will be communicating the next steps that you will need to take for informing your clinical practice site that you are assigned to and how the clinical evaluation of your clinical performance has been up to this time.  I ask for your continued patience as the faculty are working diligently through many things to determine the best way to progress so there may be times that there is not an immediate response.

During times like we are having right now, the best thing to do is to heed the health advice that is communicated and try to stay healthy.  Please keep communication open between you and your faculty members.  Do not be silent to communication.  While you may not intend that silence would communicate a message, it does.  Silence to the faculty who are communicating to you and you are not responding means that you are seriously ill or something bad has happened.  So, please keep communication open and flowing!  We encourage you to communicate and let us know if you have questions or concerns.  Thanks!

With Pioneer Pride,

Lori Anderson, PhD, RN
Dean of Nursing and Assistant Vice-President Interprofessional Education
Professor
College of Health Sciences |School of Nursing
Tusculum University
(423) 636-7435 (Office) | (423) 636-7439(Fax)
Email: landerson@tusculum.edu

As you know, the Coronavirus is impacting many aspects of our personal and professional lives.  You are receiving multiple communications from the university and I encourage you to read them as they contain important information for you and how you need to respond.  To assist you in navigating some of the recent communication, I wanted to offer you some additional information as it pertains to your scheduled classes.  You will be receiving a separate email from me in regards to clinical.  Also some of you may decide to change plans and stay at home once you see what your options are.

1.     At this time, the University is open.  Classes will be converted to online offerings.  Please monitor your University and Moodle emails and communication for additional information as things are evolving and changing.

2.    While the University is open, you have the options to a) come to the classroom for class or b) stay at home or in your dorm room to participate.  The faculty are planning on conducting classes at the scheduled day of the week and times that your classes are scheduled.  The only thing that is changing is that class will be delivered via Zoom.  Please be on the lookout for the Zoom information from the faculty as they will communicate the connection information to you.

3.    We need to know where you are.  Please communicate with your course faculty on whether you will be participating from a distance or plan to come to class (until further directed by the university).

4.    I am currently working with the faculty on the plan for administering exams.  You will receive further communication on this once things have become more solidified.  All exams and scheduled assessments will maintain the schedule that has been outlined for your courses.  Again, if the University is open, then you have the option to test in the computer lab as you have done previously.  The option for those who are at a distance is what is evolving.  What I can share at this point is that we are looking at a remote proctoring option.  This is a self-paid service for a student to take an exam at home while a proctor observes you through a webcam and you would need to be connected to the internet.  The exams that we would be considering for this would be any course exams, final exams, and HESI exams.  Course quizzes and other types of course assessments will not utilize this service.  Costs will be kept to a minimum for you, however I wanted to make you aware that there is an associated cost with this.  I will have additional information for you on this early next week once a plan has been solidified.  I just wanted to mention this so you could make plans with whatever option you are looking at.

During times like we are having right now, the best thing to do is to heed the health advice that is communicated and try to stay healthy.  Please keep communication open between you and your faculty members.  Do not be silent to communication.  While you may not intend that silence would communicate a message, it does.  Silence to the faculty who are communicating to you and you are not responding means that you are seriously ill or something bad has happened.  So, please keep communication open and flowing!  Please feel free to let me or any of the faculty know if you should have questions or need anything.  Thanks!

With Pioneer Pride,

Dr. Anderson, PhD, RN
Dean of Nursing and Assistant Vice-President Interprofessional Education
Professor
Tusculum University
College of Health Sciences |School of Nursing
(423) 636-7435 (Office) | (423) 636-7439(Fax)
Email:   landerson@tusculum.edu

Greetings!

I hope that your first week of flipping to totally online has gone well.  The faculty and I are appreciative of your patience as we continue to work through many things.  I wanted to provide you some updates since the last communication I had with you was late last week.

1. All of your classes are officially online at this time.
2. Clinical activities are currently suspended through Friday, April 10, 2020.  We are continuing to monitor and as time moves along, we will be better able to make a decision on whether or not you will be able to return to complete some clinical activities.  Until that time, the faculty have selected an alternative clinical experience for you.  The TN Board of Nursing has a regulation that 50% of your clinical activities in a course may be accomplished utilizing simulation.  While this is not the exact experience that the faculty and I wanted you to have this semester, it is the option that we have selected for you to be able to complete some of your required clinical hours this semester.  Please be on the lookout for a communication from Ms. Hicks and Dr. Anderson with specific instructions of how you will complete the rest of your clinical activities for this semester.  Each of you will have a different plan as the number of hours that you had already completed factors into the amount of simulation that you are allowed to complete.
3. The Exit HESI Exam is still scheduled to be administered.  Currently, we are waiting to hear from Elsevier on the steps that will be taken to test at home using a remote proctoring service.  We will share that information as soon as we have it.  In the meantime, please remain diligent and continue working on your remediation of your identified weak areas and continue to complete NCLEX style questions from various sources.  Research shows that the more questions students complete, the better prepared they are to take the NCLEX.
4. Please remember that you MUST complete all remediation from your first HESI Exit Exam that you took at the beginning of the semester and any Pharmacology remediation packets that you need to complete.  These must be completed by the assigned due date that you were assigned.
5. I am currently working with the external faculty member that was assigned to deliver your live NCLEX review.  The plans are currently in flux as the COVID-19 situation evolves.  I would get prepared to participate in an online Zoom-like format during the days that this was scheduled.  I will let you know definite plans once they are known.
6. NCLEX application instructions- currently, this is evolving as well.  The testing sites are currently closed until the middle of April which means that no one is able to take the exam.  This is not a concern for you at this time as you need to complete your program requirements.  I am unsure at this time if these closures will go into summer and this is out of all of our control.  I ask that you remain open and flexible through this.  All of us (your program, the Board of Nursing, your employers) are aware and we want this to be resolved quickly.  I will be working with each of you on the specifics of how to apply for testing and your license.  I am awaiting news from the Board of Nursing on how this will proceed.  At this time, there is nothing for you to do.
7. I also wanted to remind you that faculty also are available to you from a distance with office hours and appointments.  The only thing that has changed is that it is at a distance and you may need to be more planful than you are used to in the fact that you cannot just drop by the office.  We are all functioning under the procedure that communication will be answered.  If anyone is having difficulties with this, please let me know.
8. As the virus continues to spread and things continue to evolve, you need to assume that anyone (outside of your family or living situation) that you come into contact with is infected.  Please utilize good handwashing and if you are needing to come into contact with others, please maintain social distancing.

One word of encouragement I would like to give you- nurses are always resilient and rise to any occasion that they are confronted with.  Remember that you are strong and your faith will see you through this!  Please feel free to reach out to me or any of your faculty and let us know if we can assist you in any way.  Please take care and stay healthy and be safe!

With Pioneer Pride,

Dr. Anderson, PhD, RN

Dean of Nursing and Assistant Vice-President Interprofessional Education

Professor

College of Health Sciences |School of Nursing

(423) 636-7435 (Office) | (423) 636-7439(Fax)

Email:   landerson@tusculum.edu

Greetings Seniors!

This communication pertains to your clinical activities that you are participating in.  This semester you are involved in your senior practicum and leadership-management hours.  Due to the evolving situation of the Coronavirus, many of our clinical partners are beginning to place restrictions on academic programs and suspending clinical activities and not allowing academic programs to participate in their institutions.  We know that it is a matter of time before this impacts the program.  The School of Nursing leadership and the faculty met this morning to discuss.  It was decided that all clinical activities would be suspended starting immediately through April 10, 2020.  So what does this mean to you- you do not show up to your assigned shifts that you were scheduled for between now and April 10th.  The clinical sites have already been communicated with and they know not to expect you.  We are hopeful that the situation will change and we can be back in clinicals before then.  Also, the situation may worsen and we may not be allowed to enter into the clinical environment for the rest of the semester.

Currently, the faculty are providing me with the number of clinical hours that you have completed in your senior practicum to date.  This is important information as that will determine the contingency plan that you would need to follow to complete your clinical requirements for the program.  Once I have this information, the faculty and I will meet and we will develop an individualized contingency plan for you that you will need to follow.  Simulation is one option that we have and we are looking into a couple of options for virtual simulation that you can complete from a distance.  This has not been solidified so there is no additional information to share with you at this point.  We will share once we have additional information.  Our intent is to see that you complete your clinical requirements in a timely fashion so that you are ready to graduate and take the NCLEX exam.  In the event that you are unable to complete all your requirements, we will be looking at the grade assignment of an “Incomplete” and will be getting you back into clinicals at the earliest possibility.  We will be able to guide you once we have each individual contingency plan outlined so please do not panic at this point.  We are monitoring everything and you are our priority to ensure that you are able to graduate.

At this time, please continue to work on your capstone projects and I would also encourage you to use this additional time to complete your HESI remediation packets, complete additional NCLEX-style questions, and study fervently for the licensure exam that you will take once you have graduated from the program.  Do not lose sight of this goal!    

During times like we are having right now, the best thing to do is to heed the health advice that is communicated and try to stay healthy.  Please keep communication open between you and your faculty members.  Do not be silent to communication.  While you may not intend that silence would communicate a message, it does.  Silence to the faculty who are communicating to you and you are not responding means that you are seriously ill or something bad has happened.  So, please keep communication open and flowing!  Please feel free to let me or any of the faculty know if you should have questions or need anything.  Thanks!

With Pioneer Pride,

Dr. Anderson, PhD, RN
Dean of Nursing and Assistant Vice-President Interprofessional Education
Professor
Tusculum University
College of Health Sciences |School of Nursing
(423) 636-7435 (Office) | (423) 636-7439(Fax)
Email:   landerson@tusculum.edu

Greetings!

I hope that your first week of flipping to totally online has gone well.  The faculty and I are appreciative of your patience as we continue to work through many things.  I wanted to provide you some updates since the last communication I had with you was late last week.

1. All of your classes are officially online at this time.
2. Clinical activities are currently suspended through Friday, April 10, 2020.  We are continuing to monitor and as time moves along, we will be better able to make a decision on whether or not you will be able to return to complete some clinical activities.  Until that time, the faculty have selected an alternative clinical experience for you.  The TN Board of Nursing has a regulation that 50% of your clinical activities in a course may be accomplished utilizing simulation.  While this is not the exact experience that the faculty and I wanted you to have this semester, it is the option that we have selected for you to be able to complete your coursework this semester.  Please be on the lookout for a communication from Ms. Brown, Ms. Lawson, Ms. Montgomery, and Mr. Talley with specific instructions of how you will complete the rest of your clinical activities for this semester.
3. The faculty and I have been meeting and discussing how to best proceed with your course exams.  Course exams are high stakes assessments of essential information that you need to know and use as a nurse.  Since we are unable to utilize the testing facilities on campus, we will be implementing the use of an online proctoring service (Examity).  We have been working diligently to find the best mechanism at an affordable price.  At this time, it looks like the cost for each exam will be $6.  Financial Aid is aware that we are needing to utilize this service.  Please work with Financial Aid to determine if you have any aid available to assist you with this cost.  Please reach out to me if you have exhausted everything and are in need so I can work with you to determine how to proceed.  Please note you will need to have internet connection and a web camera in order to take the exam.  The exam schedule will be as it is posted for your course so please keep these times blocked so you can complete the exam in the timeframe that has been assigned.
4. Your course HESI Exam(s) is/are still scheduled to be administered.  Currently, we are waiting to hear from Elsevier on the steps that will be taken to test at home using a remote proctoring service.  We will share that information as soon as we have it.
5. I also wanted to remind you that faculty also are available to you from a distance with office hours and appointments.  The only thing that has changed is that it is at a distance and you may need to be more planful than you are used to in the fact that you cannot just drop by the office.  We are all functioning under the procedure that communication will be answered.  If anyone is having difficulties with this, please let me know.
6. As the virus continues to spread and things continue to evolve, you need to assume that anyone (outside of your family or living situation) that you come into contact with is infected.  Please utilize good handwashing and if you are needing to come into contact with others, please maintain social distancing.

One word of encouragement I would like to give you- nurses are always resilient and rise to any occasion that they are confronted with.  Remember that you are strong and your faith will see you through this!  Please feel free to reach out to me or any of your faculty and let us know if we can assist you in any way.  Please take care and stay healthy and be safe!

With Pioneer Pride,

Dr. Anderson, PhD, RN

Dean of Nursing and Assistant Vice-President Interprofessional Education

Professor

College of Health Sciences |School of Nursing

(423) 636-7435 (Office) | (423) 636-7439(Fax)

Email:   landerson@tusculum.edu

Greetings Juniors!

This communication pertains to your clinical activities that you are participating in.  This semester you are involved in clinical activities with the courses you are taking.  Due to the evolving situation of the Coronavirus, many of our clinical partners are beginning to place restrictions on academic programs and suspending clinical activities and not allowing academic programs to participate in their institutions.  We know that it is a matter of time before this impacts the program.  The School of Nursing leadership and the faculty met this morning to discuss.  It was decided that all clinical activities would be suspended starting immediately through April 10, 2020.  So what does this mean to you- you do not show up to your scheduled clinical activities that you were scheduled for between now and April 10th.  The clinical sites have already been communicated with and they know not to expect your clinical group.  We are hopeful that the situation will change and we can be back in clinicals before then.  Also, the situation may worsen and we may not be allowed to enter into the clinical environment for the rest of the semester.

Currently, the faculty are providing me with the number of clinical hours that you have completed in your clinicals to date.  This is important information as that will determine the contingency plan that you would need to follow to complete your clinical requirements for your courses.  Once I have this information, the faculty and I will meet and we will develop an individualized contingency plan for you that you will need to follow.  Simulation is one option that we have and we are looking into a couple of options for virtual simulation that you can complete from a distance.  This has not been solidified so there is no additional information to share with you at this point.  We will share once we have additional information.  Our intent is to see that you complete your clinical requirements in a timely fashion so that you are ready to continue to the next semester.  In the event that you are unable to complete all your requirements, we will be looking at the grade assignment of an “Incomplete” and will be getting you back into clinicals at the earliest possibility.  We will be able to guide you once we have each individual contingency plan outlined so please do not panic at this point.  We are monitoring everything and you are our priority to ensure that you are able to complete course requirements.

During times like we are having right now, the best thing to do is to heed the health advice that is communicated and try to stay healthy.  Please keep communication open between you and your faculty members.  Do not be silent to communication.  While you may not intend that silence would communicate a message, it does.  Silence to the faculty who are communicating to you and you are not responding means that you are seriously ill or something bad has happened.  So, please keep communication open and flowing!  Please feel free to let me or any of the faculty know if you should have questions or need anything.  Thanks!

With Pioneer Pride,

Dr. Anderson, PhD, RN
Dean of Nursing and Assistant Vice-President Interprofessional Education
Professor
Tusculum University
College of Health Sciences |School of Nursing
(423) 636-7435 (Office) | (423) 636-7439(Fax)
Email:   landerson@tusculum.edu

Greetings!

I hope that your first week of flipping to totally online has gone well.  The faculty and I are appreciative of your patience as we continue to work through many things.  I wanted to provide you some updates since the last communication I had with you was late last week.

1. All of your classes are officially online at this time.
2. Clinical activities are currently suspended through Friday, April 10, 2020.  We are continuing to monitor and as time moves along, we will be better able to make a decision on whether or not you will be able to return to complete some clinical activities.  Until that time, the faculty have selected an alternative clinical experience for you.  The TN Board of Nursing has a regulation that 50% of your clinical activities in a course may be accomplished utilizing simulation.  While this is not the exact experience that the faculty and I wanted you to have this semester, it is the option that we have selected for you to be able to complete your coursework this semester.  Please be on the lookout for a communication from Ms. Hicks with specific instructions of how you will complete the rest of your clinical activities for this semester.
3. The faculty and I have been meeting and discussing how to best proceed with your course exams.  Course exams are high stakes assessments of essential information that you need to know and use as a nurse.  Since we are unable to utilize the testing facilities on campus, we will beimplementing the use of an online proctoring service (Examity).  We have been working diligently to find the best mechanism at an affordable price.  At this time, it looks like the cost for each exam will be $6.  Financial Aid is aware that we are needing to utilize this service.  Please work with Financial Aid to determine if you have any aid available to assist you with this cost.  Please reach out to me if you have exhausted everything and are in need so I can work with you to determine how to proceed.  Please note you will need to have internet connection and a web camera in order to take the exam.  The exam schedule will be as it is posted for your course so please keep these times blocked so you can complete the exam in the timeframe that has been assigned.
4. Your course HESI Exam(s) is/are still scheduled to be administered.  Currently, we are waiting to hear from Elsevier on the steps that will be taken to test at home using a remote proctoring service.  We will share that information as soon as we have it.
5. I also wanted to remind you that faculty also are available to you from a distance with office hours and appointments.  The only thing that has changed is that it is at a distance and you may need to be more planful than you are used to in the fact that you cannot just drop by the office.  We are all functioning under the procedure that communication will be answered.  If anyone is having difficulties with this, please let me know.
6. As the virus continues to spread and things continue to evolve, you need to assume that anyone (outside of your family or living situation) that you come into contact with is infected.  Please utilize good handwashing and if you are needing to come into contact with others, please maintain social distancing.

One word of encouragement I would like to give you- nurses are always resilient and rise to any occasion that they are confronted with.  Remember that you are strong and your faith will see you through this!  Please feel free to reach out to me or any of your faculty and let us know if we can assist you in any way.  Please take care and stay healthy and be safe!

With Pioneer Pride,

Dr. Anderson, PhD, RN

Dean of Nursing and Assistant Vice-President Interprofessional Education

Professor

College of Health Sciences |School of Nursing

(423) 636-7435 (Office) | (423) 636-7439(Fax)

Email:   landerson@tusculum.edu