Supporting Visual Literacy in Nursing

Abstract

COVID-19 impacted in person learning, particularly for the health sciences. Nursing students learn valuable clinical skills in simulation labs on campus. When one university campus stopped in person instruction during the 2020 spring semester, two librarians worked together to identify resources to support a nursing course that quickly switched to remote learning. These resources ranged from library licensed content to free virtual reality simulations. In order to identify materials, the librarians first defined visual literacy within nursing, as well as met with various constituents to understand curriculum goals and needs. Making connections with both the faculty and the curriculum was the impetus for examining similarities between the Association of College and Research Libraries Visual Literacy Competency Standards and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Clinical Resources Essentials for Baccalaureate Nursing Education. Both librarians are eager to continue working on strategically and systematically incorporating visual literacy library instruction into the nursing curriculum.