Participants Stress the Benefit of The Virtual Education Experience and The Importance of Developing Simulation Laboratories

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During the symposium organized by the Nursing Department at the College of Health and Sports Sciences at the University of Bahrain (UOB) on “The Effects of Sudden Disconnection from the Study System Due to the Pandemic”, participants noted the importance of benefiting from this experience by developing simulation laboratories that contain the latest educational methods, and encouraging distance education and training through virtual reality, and training students and academic staff on the wide use of technology applications in their various forms.

Speakers at the Symposium suggested linking nursing colleges and schools with an information base so that the largest segment of users can benefit from it, developing a curriculum and alternative plans in case of crises, and including courses that contribute to preparing students to face disasters and qualify them to work effectively with the health team to provide comprehensive health care and diversify methods of practical and theoretical evaluation.

The symposium was held through video communication, and it aimed to gain a clear understanding of how the Covid-19 pandemic affects nursing education in theory and practice from the perspectives of those involved in nursing education, address the existing challenges in adopting virtual education for nursing education, and to benefit from innovative ideas, recent trends and modern technologies as an alternative to clinical practice in nursing education, highlighting the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Symposium was moderated by the Head of the Nursing Department and Acting Head of the Support Sciences Department and Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for the Development of the Nursing Profession at the College, Dr. Leena Khonji, and it hosted a group of specialists and experts in teaching and practicing the nursing profession from Gulf, Arab and international universities.

As Dr. Salem Al-Touby, Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Nursing at the University of Nizwa in the Sultanate of Oman participated in the Symposium, talking about the impact of the pandemic and dealing with it, as well as the head of the Department of Women and Child Health Nursing at the University of Jordan, Dr. Areej Othman, Associate Professor at the College of Nursing Dr. Manar Nabulsi, and the Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs at the College of Nursing at King Saud University Dr. Hamoud Al-Harbi.

Dr. Al-Harbi discussed how the University has successfully overcome the experience, while the head of the Clinical Skills Center at the College of Nursing at the International Islamic University in the Republic of Malaysia, Dr. Seri Hazaria, gave a lecture on how to prepare students and practical sites for clinical training.