Direct Patient Care

Direct Supervision. Planned and supervised by course faculty/preceptor. 

Practice in an inpatient, ambulatory care or community setting where the student provides care to patients under the guidance of an instructor or preceptor (NCSBN, 2020).

Scheduled activity within the realm of a health care agency whereby the student engages in direct interaction & provision of care to one or more patients including

• Acute care settings, chronic or rehabilitative settings, long-term or extended care facilities

• Community agencies & health care settings in other facilities; i.e. school nurse office, day care for special needs children, health fair and immunization clinics

• Direct supervision by faculty or preceptor (Prenovost & Adams, 2015)

Learning experiences may include:

Community support group meetings for mental health nursing

- Professional meetings & symposiums

- Community service projects

- Childhood screening activities in non-healthcare environments, i.e. school nurse office

- Community disaster training programs

- Autopsies / Funeral home care of the body after death

- Professional lectures pertinent to outcomes of course

Skills Laboratory Experiences

Direct Supervision.

Developed in collaboration with course faculty; planned, implemented and supervised by Experiential Learning Team

Health Assessment Laboratories: Replicates traditional exam rooms & provides opportunities to practice assessment skills

Nursing Skills Laboratories: Provide the necessary equipment and supplies to develop proficiency in psychomotor skills prior to direct patient care experiences and/or simulated care experiences

(Prenovost & Adams, 2015)

Simulation Lab Experiences

Direction supervision

Developed in collaboration with course faculty; planned, implemented and supervised by Experiential Learning Team

A technique, not a technology, to replace or amplify real experiences with guided experiences that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive manner (Gaba, 2004).

Use of high-fidelity human simulator

(s) and sophisticated technology to replicate actual care environments allowing students to exercise assessment, intervention, communication, critical thinking, & critical judgment skills in a safe environment

(Prenovost & Adams, 2015)

Virtual Learning Experiences

Course faculty-directed, asynchronous case delivery, synchronous small group and individual debrief sessions

Selected in collaboration with course faculty; planned, implemented and supervised by Virtual Learning Experiential Team

Characterized by an online format that explicitly represents an environment inherent to a profession or situation in which interactions take place and learning is achieved.

- The environment provides the necessary resources and content to guide learning experiences.

- Students are active participants, interacting individually or collaboratively, to assimilate knowledge transferable to real life situations.

Ex.- Evolve Elsevier Case Studies, ATI Scenario’s, SimChart, Second Life Communities, Virtual Simulations

(vSim)

(Prenovost & Adams, 2015)

Alternative Learning for Clinical Hours

Clinical or course faculty directed.

Developed and delivered with approval by Chair/Program Director to ensure consistency with course outcomes

Encompasses additional clinical activities that allows faculty to achieve course/program outcomes based on available internal and community resources.

Examples of application content:

• Clinical preparation hours (faculty-directed)

• Community support group meetings for mental health nursing

• Community service projects

• Community disaster training programs

• Professional lectures/seminars pertinent to outcomes of course (e.g. EKG practice session, TEAM steps)

• Other faculty selected (Chair approved) online training modules/case studies (e.g. Kaplan)

(Prenovost & Adams, 2015).

Examples of what does NOT qualify:

• New course content - belongs in didactic

• Post licensure courses e.g. PALS, ACLS Anything not an expectation of a prelicensure nurse

• Professional meetings & symposiums

Notes

Clinically Competent (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

(d) “Clinically competent” means that the nursing program faculty member possesses and exercises the degree of learning, skill, care and experience

ordinarily possessed and exercised by staff level registered nurses of the nursing area to which the faculty member is assigned;

Clinical Practice (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

(e) “Clinical practice” means the planned learning experiences designed for students to apply nursing knowledge and skills to meet course objectives in

a variety of board-approved clinical settings. Clinical practice includes learning experiences provided in various health care agencies as well as nursing

skills labs, simulation labs, and computer labs;

Content Expert (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

(f) “Content expert” means an instructor who has the responsibility to review and monitor the program's entire curricular content for a designated

nursing area of geriatrics, medical-surgical, mental health/psychiatric nursing, obstetrics, or pediatrics;

Faculty (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

(i) “Faculty” means all registered nurses who teach in an approved nursing program;

Learning Experience (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

(k) “Learning experience” means those activities planned for students by the faculty that are designed to meet the objectives of the required course of

instruction, including the basic standards of competent performance in section 1443.5; 

Nursing Process (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

“Nursing process” means the application of scientific, evidence-based knowledge in the identification and treatment of actual or potential patient

health problems. The nursing process includes assessment, nursing diagnosis, planning and outcome identification, implementation, and evaluation; 

Non-faculty (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

(m) “Non-faculty” means all persons other than faculty members who meet the minimum qualifications of clinical teaching assistant and are selected

by the nursing program to teach or supervise nursing students in designated nursing areas;

Preceptor (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

(o) “Preceptor” means a registered nurse who meets the qualifications set out in section 1426.1(b)(3)(A) through (D), employed by a health care

agency, who is assigned to assist and supervise nursing students in an educational experience that is designed and directed by a faculty member;

Technology (Ca BRN, Title 16 CCR, § 1420)

(p) “Technology” means equipment, tools, and devices that are used to facilitate and support the teaching and learning of the nursing program's

board-approved curriculum.