Students from the Centre for Health and Wellness in lab class, get ready to practice their skills.
The Simulated Patient Health Environment for Research and Education (SPHERE) had to make some changes to the way they help students practice their skills due to COVID-19.
SPHERE offers hands on experience for students in the Centre for Health and Wellness with the help of high-tech manikins and role-playing from fellow students. But due to COVID-19, a lot of changes had to take place.
They had to make several changes to their curriculum due to COVID and restrictions about being on campus. They moved a lot of the theory out of the labs and into online delivery so the students that are going to campus are only there for the practical component.
One of those changes was the lab class sizes, which in the past would accommodate 18 to 24 students per lab with seven beds in it, but now the students are divided into three labs with six students in each.
“In the labs, the bed linens have been stripped and there is no curtains to help reduce contamination in the lab and help with disinfecting protocols,” Sheri Wright, SPHERE coordinator says regarding the way those labs are set up.
These lab classes are taught by one instructor who is physically present in one of the labs while broadcasting via webcam to the other two labs. This way, the students can see the instructor and the same number of students can be enrolled in the lab classes while maintaining proper distancing.
“It’s hard not being able to come to class every day, but we have labs twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. We have to sanitize everything before and after we go in there.” says Kevin Deschenes, Healthcare Aide student.
While students are practicing their skills, the instructor floats among the three labs as well as the SPHERE staff to support students with their learning experience. While most of the learning is done online, there are some practical components that just have to be taught and practice in person.
Testing spaces have also been added within the labs, for students to be able to record their tests while doing their practical exams. In order to achieve this, a lot of additional technology was brought to campus such as webcams and laptops.
SPHERE helps students from different programs, including Bachelor of Nursing, Practical Nursing, Primary Care Paramedic and Healthcare Aide, which require students to have specific skills practiced on real life scenarios and SPHERE makes the experience more realistic by allowing them to use the labs.
Sanitizing is one of the many protocols SPHERE staff and students are following to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While on campus, everyone is required to wear a mask and maintain physical distance to ensure that everyone is safe.