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The article discusses the study aimed to evaluate the impact of interactive group activities on nurse practitioner student confidence in prescribing before their first clinical rotation, which improved students' self-perception of confidence in various prescribing aspects.

Supplemental digital content is available in the text. Background: It is important for faculty to prepare nurse practitioner students for their first clinical experiences to ensure student success. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to implement a preclinical immersion and determine student perceptions about this experience. Methods: A half-day preclinical immersion was instituted at the beginning of the family nurse practitioner students' first clinical course. Demographic information and survey data were obtained before the preclinical immersion experience, after completion of the immersion experience, and during the last 2 weeks of the first clinical course. Results: Students' ratings of their clinical skills and knowledge improved during the duration of the semester for 5 of the 7 items. Directed content analysis revealed 3 themes: understanding of clinical expectations, face-to-face interactions with faculty, and cognitive/emotional clinical perceptions. Conclusion: The use of preclinical immersion experiences may both practically and emotionally prepare students for graduate nursing clinical experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is important to foster active participation in online graduate nursing courses through creative teaching strategies, such as virtual synchronous debates., Method: A free videoconferencing system was used to complete the virtual synchronous debates. Demographic information and survey data were obtained to assess the impact of an online debate on critical thinking and presentation skills., Results: Seven of the 10 scored survey items had statistically significant differences in preimplementation and postimplementation ranked scores. Five qualitative themes were revealed: predebate anxiety/nervousness, technical issues/online format, learning experience, improved presentation skills, and group work., Conclusion: Through virtual synchronous debates, graduate nursing students can gain a stronger appreciation for ethical issues in health care, learn to succinctly convey their views, and increase their confidence in presenting a professional argument., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)