Lessons Learned from Forced ERT (Emergency Remote Teaching) Caused by Covid-19: The Experience of Heads of Nursing Education Institutions

The aim of papers is to describe and discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the traditional approach in undergraduate nursing education in Israel. The lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced an abrupt transformation from the face-to-face educational approach to ERT (Emergency Remote Teaching) in tertiary education in general and in undergraduate nursing education in particular. The current research was part of a mixed-method doctoral study that explored the implementation of a new nursing core curriculum mirroring social change in Israel. This particular section was based on in-depth interviews of 14 heads of nursing schools and nursing departments in colleges and universities. The content data analysis was performed on in-depth interviews. The interviews were conducted between March 2019-January 2021, after the release of the draft version of the new nursing core curriculum. Half of the interviews were completed after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and so relevant to the current discussion. These interviews included additional questions about the transformation to ERT and adjustments for this made in nursing education institutions. The content analysis revealed the theme that exposed the different ways that nursing education programs in Israel were managed during the COVI-19 pandemic. Findings are presented and analyzed. The categories emerging from this theme related to different coping patterns with ERT, consequences, coping with clinical practice challenges and with online examinations and lessons learned. The paper discussed the impact and the perceived necessity of various online platforms. The findings demonstrate that Israeli nursing educators learned to overcome the main barriers to distance learning. This process was largely engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced them to face and manage the situation. The lessons learned equipped them with valuable tools to adjust nursing education to 21st-century demands.