Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1333042
14 Working Nurse l WorkingNurse.com January 25-February 22, 2021 MY SPECIALTY by Keith Carlson, RN, BSN, CPC, NC-BC What has your nursing career trajectory been like? I entered nursing as an LVN working in ED, med-surg and telemetry. Once I fin- ished the LVN-to-BSN program at West Coast University, I knew what I wanted. After submitting online applications, I drove around to the hospitals where I knew I wanted to work and actually walked my resume into the office of the nursing director or hiring manager, wear- ing a suit and tie. That's how I found my next position in a six-bed ED and worked my way up to a Level I trauma center. Over these past few years, I've also earned a master's in nursing as a family nurse practitioner (FNP-C). Throughout the time I've been teaching at West Coast, I've also been working weekends as a critical care flight nurse, transport- ing patients in a helicopter. My education as a nurse practitioner is a great help in my flight position, especially in terms of advanced pharma- cology and assessment skills. Please tell us about your work at West Coast University. I'm what we consider alumni faculty because I actually received my BSN from West Coast University in 2013 and am currently an adjunct faculty mem- ber there. West Coast was great to me and I wanted to pay it forward. I have served as lead instructor of the advanced medical-surgical nursing (criti- cal care) course. As part of that position, I also managed 15 clinical and theory instructors, lectured in the classroom and taught students in the clinical setting. With faculty members like me who are still working as clinicians, we have the opportunity to bring real-life patient sce- narios into students' educational experi- ence rather than just lecturing on disease processes and medications. I'm seeing how clinical learning and theory can be blended together as a more unified whole. How has nursing education adapted during the pandemic? We've had to get much more creative in our approach in order to give students the same high-quality education, even without as much face-to-face clinical time. For instance, we do skills validation via Zoom, with the students demonstrat- ing the use of their equipment. Our sim- ulation team is doing amazing work. Once COVID-19 hit in March, we switched over to virtual ED software that allows students to triage simulated patients in real time. It also provides in- depth, evolving patient scenarios that allow students to prioritize, delegate and think critically. It even has back- ground noise so that the students have to assess, think and plan while dealing with the chaos of a clinical scenario happening all around them. We've recently had students at clini- cal sites again for about two terms, with limited but valuable patient interaction. Some fundamentals students have been Andrew Tran, RN, FNP-C Alumni/Faculty West Coast University Nursing Department Alumni Faculty/Flight Nurse Using innovative technology to educate students during COVID-19 WEEKEND WARRIOR In addition to his responsibilities as a professor of nursing, on weekends Andrew Tran works as a helicopter flight nurse. The opinion is the individual's sole opinion and not necessarily representative of that of WCU, any instructor, or any student. WCU provides career guidance and assis- tance, but cannot guarantee employment.