CoNAH Humanics & Experiential Learning
What is Experiential Learning?
Experiential learning is the process of “learning by doing.” Engaging students in experiences where they can connect theory and knowledge is considered a best practice in education. Experiential learning is embedded into the curriculum for all FDU College of Nursing and Allied Health (CoNAH) students.
What is Humanics ?
In healthcare education, Humanics involves preparing students to become highly capable, ethically grounded, technologically fluent, and deeply human professionals. We develop our curriculum to enhance their ability to combine science, skill, judgment, compassion, and respect for human dignity in every future interaction with patients, families, communities, and colleagues.
In CoNAH, our Humanics is embedded throughout our curriculum to prepare students to use knowledge, technology, data, and professional skill in ways that preserve human dignity, deepen trust, and improve lives. Technology may change how healthcare is delivered, but Humanics ensures we never forget why healthcare exists in the first place: to serve people.
What does Humanics have to do with Experiential Learning?
Healthcare has always required scientific knowledge, but the future will require something more: professionals who can interpret information, communicate with empathy, navigate complexity, and make ethical decisions in situations where there is rarely a perfect answer. Humanics is about preparing students for that reality.
To prepare students to use knowledge, technology, data, and professional skill in ways that preserve human dignity, deepen trust, and improve lives, we deliberately seek out experiences for student in which they need to integrate technical expertise, data literacy, and human understanding.
CoNAH’s experiential learning activities are guided by two measurable Humanics-centered goals:
- To prepare and inspire future care providers/emerging leaders to keep human dignity, compassion, and ethical judgment at the center of care, education and/or advocacy in technology-rich environments (“To honor the care and advocacy of humans even when challenged by a lens of technology”); and
- To prepare and inspire future care providers and emerging leaders to use technology intentionally to strengthen communication, safety, learning, and access (“To use technology intentionally to enable the human experience”).
Clinical Experiences for Entry-Level (RN) Nursing Students
Experiential learning in actual patient care environments is an essential component of the education of healthcare students. Entry-Level nursing students are assigned to go to acute care hospitals and subacute care centers to support experiential learning. Experiences will be selected to align with didactic course population foci (e.g., adults, pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics).
Clinical sites are selected for use based on their ability to provide appropriate educational opportunities. Students are expected to arrange their own transportation to these sites and must comply with the parking regulations of each agency. These sites are located throughout the region and may require commuting up to 50 miles (approximately, depending on site availability) from campus. (See CoNAH Student Manual – Clinical Issues.)
Our clinical affiliations include the following agencies, among many others:
- Atlantic Health System (e.g., Overlook Medical Center, Morristown Medical Center, Newton Medical Center, Hackettstown Medical Center)
- RWJ Barnabas Health (e.g., Children’s Specialized Hospital, Clara Maass Medical Center, Jersey City Medical Center, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospitals)
- Valley Health System (e.g., The Valley Hospital)
- Hackensack Meridian Health (e.g., Hackensack University Medical Center, Carrier Clinic, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Mountainside Medical Center)
- Englewood Health
- Holy Name Medical Center
- University Hospital of Newark
EPIC Electronic Health Record Training
A major focus in our CoNAH entry-level educational program tracks is on developing student capacity to adeptly navigate the electronic health record so that they are able to use it with ease and are able to use this technology (i.e. EPIC) intentionally to strengthen connection with their future patients and/or use it to enhance their human experience.
Skills and Simulation Laboratories
Experiential learning includes skills development in our clinical skills labs at Dickinson Hall (FDU Metro Campus, Teaneck) and simulation laboratories at Park Avenue Plaza (230 Park Avenue, Florham Park). Experiences in skills laboratories will be selected to align with didactic course content (i.e., Comprehensive Health Assessment, Foundations of Nursing I and II). Interprofessional simulation experiences (e.g., with pharmacology, physician assistant, occupational therapy, and/or respiratory therapy students) conducted in our simulation laboratories allow students to develop team and communication skills. Students are expected to arrange their own transportation to these clinical sites, which may require commuting between campuses.
Community Engagement
Nurses are highly impactful in promoting population health through community engagement. Providing experiences for students to develop community engagement skills is an important vehicle to bring about environmental and behavioral changes that will improve the health of the community and its members. Nursing students will develop these community health competencies as participants in health fairs, food pantries, Head Start and WIC programs, blood drives, and vaccine clinics. Students can also develop community wellness leadership skills through participation in FDU’s LiveWell Warriors Peer Health Educator programs.
Respiratory Care Students – Clinical Experiences
The College of Nursing and Allied Health maintains clinical affiliation agreements with many agencies in support of respiratory therapist education. Among the clinical sites used to educate respiratory care students are:
Atlantic Health System (AHS)
- Chilton Medical Center
- Hackettstown Medical Center
- Morristown Medical Center
- Newton Medical Center
- Overlook Medical Center
Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH)
- Hackensack University Medical Center
RWJ Barnabas Health
- Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center
- Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Allied Health Students – Clinical Experiences
The College of Nursing and Allied Health maintains clinical affiliation agreements with many agencies in support of allied health education. A broad range of affiliation agreements provide students who are seeking careers in clinical laboratory science/medical technology, radiography, or radiologic science with the opportunity to be immersed within a major regional health care agency, where most will be offered employment opportunities after graduation. Among the clinical sites used to educate allied health students are:
- Jersey Shore Medical Center, Neptune NJ
- Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch NJ
- Morristown Memorial Hospital, Morristown NJ
- JFK Medical Center, Edison NJ
- Englewood Medical Center, Englewood NJ
Advanced-Level Nursing Students – Advanced Practice and Leadership Experiences
Advanced-level nursing students choose to study either advanced practice nursing (APN) or nursing leadership. Experiential learning differs between these MSN (or post-graduate) degree tracks to meet the educational needs and certification requirements of students.
APN students participate in planned clinical practice experiences that afford them the opportunity to develop professional competencies and to integrate new knowledge in practice settings that are aligned with their population concentration. Preceptors (including nurse practitioners, physicians, and other qualified providers) support students in a broad range of settings (e.g., private offices, health care clinics, telehealth, long term care settings) to ensure that students will develop competencies to function as members of interprofessional teams.
APN students can choose from sites that are in our large portfolio of clinical affiliation agreements or can identify alternate clinical sites and preceptors in collaboration with faculty, who are responsible for evaluating overall student performance in clinical practice experiences. FDU maintains cooperative agreements that support APN clinical opportunities in other states, including New York. APN students must hold an RN license in the state where they are requesting a clinical placement. (See important Title IV Professional License Disclosure documents and CoNAH Student Manual – Clinical Issues.)
Graduate students who work in a healthcare facility that has a clinical affiliation agreement with FDU are eligible to receive a tuition discount. Graduate healthcare students who are interested in establishing a clinical affiliation agreement between FDU and a healthcare facility (to either obtain the tuition discount or as a clinical site) should contact their Program Director or Track Director for guidance.