Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s health nursing clinical practicums in the spring 2020 semester in Korea: a nationwide survey study

PURPOSE: This study investigated the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on women’s health nursing clinical practicums in undergraduate nursing schools in Korea during the spring 2020 semester. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey on clinical practicum teaching experiences in the spring 2020 semester was distributed to members of the Korean Society of Women Health Nursing (KSWHN) who taught undergraduate nursing. One faculty member from each of 203 institutions was requested to respond and there were no duplicate participants. Seventy-nine participants (38.9%) responded and 74 responses were analyzed. Descriptive statistics were presented for all survey items. RESULTS: Fifty-two faculty members (70.3%) belonged to universities and 22 (29.7%) taught at colleges. Thirty-eight (51.4%) answered that their institutions had affiliated teaching hospitals. More than half (52.7%) conducted hospital-based clinical practicums either entirely (n=20) or partially (n=19), whereas the rest of them (47.3%) conducted clinical practicums at school or home via online teaching. The typical teaching methods for offline or online education were case conferences, tests or quizzes, scenario studies, nursing skill practicums, (virtual) nursing simulations, and simulated patient education. Most of faculties (93.2%) supported the development of an educational platform to share educational materials and resources, such as case scenarios. CONCLUSION: Nursing faculty members utilized various teaching methods to enhance clinical skills and mitigate limited clinical exposure during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The KSWHN should move forward to develop an education platform and modalities for members who face many challenges related to the accessibility and quality of nursing education contents.