Back to News Rounds With Leadership: Moving Towards Reopening Schools of Nursing Wednesday, August 26, 2020 | Rounds with Leadership Welcome to聽Rounds with Leadership, a forum for AACN鈥檚 Board Chair and President/CEO to offer commentary on issues and trends impacting academic nursing. August 26, 2020 - Moving Towards Reopening Schools of Nursing Whether your school is planning to invite students back for in-person classes in the fall or at some point next year, academic nursing leaders are challenged to determine how best to maintain program quality while protecting students and faculty from contracting and spreading COVID-19. To help ease this transition, 性视界has worked with internationally noted expert Dr. Tener Goodwin Veenema from Johns Hopkins University to develop a new resource to help guide decision-making at your school of nursing. Titled Considerations for Reopening U.S. Schools of Nursing During COVID-19, this guide provides recommendations related to assessing risk, the protections needed to safely resume campus activities, the continuity of education and research, clinical education and patient interactions, strengthening curriculum, and protecting the campus community. Building on evidence-based guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, this new document offers practical advice on maintaining nursing education programs, while taking steps to answer key questions, including: What do administrators do when your campus has a confirmed case of COVID-19? What specific alert levels should be identified to better inform expectations of students, faculty, and staff? What steps should individuals take to enhance their personal safety, including mask-wearing and COVID-19 testing? Are expectations changing with respect to providing PPE for students in clinicals? Are my plans sufficient to ensure that nursing programs will continue if our campus is required to shut down? How should I adapt my policies related to absenteeism (students, faculty, staff)? What can be done to enhance my school鈥檚 approach to clinical placements, including contingency plans if threat levels rise? Can nursing students serve as workforce extenders for surge capacity as the outbreak continues? What emotional and mental health services are available to keep my campus community resilient and thriving? On August 18, Dr. Veenema and her colleague Dr. Crystal Watson from the Johns Hopkins Center