Researcher’s Corner: Phone Visiting as a Novel Clinical Experience for Healthcare Students During COVID-19 and Beyond
Research study by Paula Mayer, Heather Nelson PhD., Beverlee Ziefflie, Susan Page and Deborah Norton examine the effectiveness of a phone visiting program
Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a need to utilize innovative clinical placements for healthcare students. The Saskatchewan Polytechnic Continuing Care Assistant (CCA) Program created a five-week phone visiting program to meet the clinical needs of CCA students and to assist older adults who were experiencing social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Student evaluations from the project were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis and resulted in three themes: building communication skills, communication as your job, and older adults as people. This program was successful in providing students with the opportunity to practice communication, learn the importance of effective communication in the workplace, and view older adults from a new perspective. The phone visiting program was beneficial for both students and the older adults involved; therefore, it would be a beneficial addition to health science programs as part of clinical or communication classes.
Read the original research paper on JIPE.ca: Phone Visiting as a Novel Clinical Experience for Healthcare Students During COVID-19 and Beyond
How did you get started in your researcher journey?
Paula Mayer (PM): I was working on a research and stats class while completing my BN degree a few years ago. I reached out to a colleague for some assistance with the subject matter, and she invited me to join her research team to make sense of the content through application. She was studying health promotion in older adults, and I thought that it sounded interesting. I joined her team, and we have now done several research projects together studying older adults. I was fortunate to find in her an amazing Principal Investigator my first time out, and am learning a great deal being on her team.
Heather Nelson (HN): I initially started my research journey with a desire to examine the challenge of high failure rates among Indigenous students in Practical Nursing. This led to a small research study. We did not know what we were doing, but we figured it out as we went. This first research study led to me pursuing a Master’s and eventually a PhD I have completed a number of studies in different areas. Today, most of my research is focused on older adults.
Why did you choose this research topic?
PM: I am an instructor in the Continuing Care Assistant program and have worked with older adults throughout my career. I have a keen interest in dispelling myths about aging and finding practical ways to improve the quality of life of older adults.
Some of our team’s research was created out of necessity to meet the needs of both older adults and healthcare students. During COVID, our team performed a study in which we created a meaningful clinical experience for a group of continuing care assistant students who could not do an in-person clinical in certain eldercare facilities due to isolation requirements. In this research, the students phoned older adults once a week for six weeks and we examined the student experience. The clinical experience received positive feedback from both students and participants.
HN: At the start of COVID-19, all of my research came to a halt due to the lockdowns. However, my team wanted to examine the experience of older adults who were socially isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this research, my team realized the significant challenge of loneliness in older adults and how much they enjoyed phone conversations as a way to socialize. The team completed a research study on the use of a social phone program as a clinical experience for Continuing Care Assistant students.
What next? What is the perceived impact of this research study?
PM and HN: Our team found that our initial telephone visiting research with clinical students had positive impacts on loneliness and mood among our older adult participants. We are currently collaborating with the Canadian Red Cross, studying the benefits of their Friendly Calls program. We are also in the initial stages of a research project to study the effects of weekly volunteer social calls on loneliness and mood in older adults who live in personal care homes and assisted living facilities.
What does research and innovation mean to you?
PM: Research and innovation are all about building on existing studies to find new ways to answer questions, solve problems, and develop and support new ideas. I personally love how one project organically leads to another, often in an unexpected direction.
HN: Research, to me, is using data gathering and analysis to examine the world’s problems. Innovation is the opportunity to build on existing ideas or create new ideas to solve issues.
What is/are your favourite book(s)?
PM: My favourite books are probably Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and most of Stephen King’s works, most notably The Stand.
HN: My favourite research book is Braun & Clarke’s Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. My favourite novels are The 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson and If All of the Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura.
ABOUT
Paula Mayer, RN, BN, LNC has 30 years international RN experience in nearly every domain of nursing and in a wide variety of clinical specialties. She is currently a faculty member with the School of Nursing at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, teaching in the Continuing Care Assistant program. She is an active member of an interprofessional collaborative multi-institutional research team working with older adults to study various aspects of aging.
Heather Nelson PhD., RN has worked in nursing education for over a dozen years, most of which was spent at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in the Practical Nursing Program and as a Researcher. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Regina. Her areas of research include health promotion in older adults and sport for children from low-income settings.