Students and faculty at Rutgers Camden strive to adjust to the current nursing shortage as the Nursing Program at Rutgers Camden implements new Virtual Reality clinical simulations. The Virtual Reality experience launched this semester and was implemented to allow students to care for patients on a maternity floor through a controlled simulation headset. Hospitals and healthcare facilities are facing a nursing shortage, preventing students from completing their clinical rotations on the floor. 

Nursing students are typically required to complete their clinical rotation on the floor for 12 hours to be prepared for what it’s like to experience a real-life nursing shift and to gain hands-on experience. The use of these new Virtual Reality headsets allows these students to experience real-life maternal scenarios for approximately 20 minutes, reducing the risk of motion sickness. This change was not used to fill students’ free time, but allows students to experience medical scenarios that are, in some cases, “rare” to see during the typical one clinical day per week rotation. 

“A lot of the healthcare floors are becoming crowded between all of the day-staff along with the students, and it’s making it more difficult to secure the clinical spots our students need to experience the hands-on aspect of their course load,” said a Nursing staff member at Rutgers Camden. “While it’s not a replacement for students on a hospital floor, the virtual reality does a great job at filling in the gaps to ensure students are continuing to receive similar experiences and possibly even more exposure to events that may not happen throughout their semester on the floor.” 

The new virtual reality here at Rutgers Camden is here to bypass these obstacles in the field with the level of stress already on the floor. The staff member continued, “Families, primary staff, patients, and administration are all just a fragment of who is attending in the hospital during the day reaching a true saturation point making it difficult to provide an interactive experience for our students.” 

As these changes are part of the program, nursing students are questioning whether this Virtual Reality can help students to become better prepared to work in the field after graduation. As this is the first semester of these clinical changes, students at Rutgers Camden are still processing and learning how to navigate the virtual reality simulation implementation. 

“I’ve only ever had one clinical in person during my med surge class, so it does feel different not being on a healthcare floor,” said Selena Aquino, a junior nursing student going through these new changes. “I’m intrigued to see how these changes will help or hurt our level of preparedness to being on an actual hospital floor as new grads.” For Junior nursing students like Selena, these changes can feel like more of an experiment rather than a saving grace to the hands-on experience in their maternity courses. 

While virtual reality offers the rare scenarios that many students may never get to experience, it has a chance at lacking the authenticity of being on the floor. Aquino continued, “The new solution to the nursing shortage is intriguing, but it worries me that as new grads on the floor, we will lack the adrenaline that’s needed and the preparation of being tired from a real 12-hour shift.” 

While these changes can be worrisome for the students, it has seemed to have a large impact on the students’ expectations, indicating an appreciation for the new virtual reality simulation. “However, the new Virtual Reality exceeded my expectations to say the least. I have never felt more in control and responsible for my actions while taking care of a patient before, and the idea of that truly worried me. I think that this new system of learning is a great way for my Junior class and I to be able to be more in control, take accountability, and practice skills we may not be able to in the true clinical setting,” said Aquino. 

The juniors in this program have a completely different experience from those who have already taken these courses. Upperclassmen experienced their maternity clinicals in person, seeing medical events such as births and labor difficulties while others were delegated to take vitals and assist in ADLs. The current junior students are now in a controlled environment where they get to be the primary nurse.

“I remember being nervous in a crowded room with two nurses who weren’t even happy that we were there,” said Olivia, a senior nursing student at Rutgers Camden who went through these classes before the effects of the nursing shortage. “It was an amazing experience, but I would say being on my feet for approximately 20 minutes in a 4-hour lab doesn’t even come close to how hard it really is to be on the floor for almost 12 hours without hardly getting a moment to pause, think, or retry the patient care,” said the senior. 

As the spring semester continues for these students, Rutgers Camden will be able to get a close insight into how effective the virtual reality simulation really is for the junior class and the upcoming nursing students. The Camden Nursing program is showing students and faculty how nursing education is changing and evolving, and how this university is adapting to the changes in healthcare.

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Residential students who live on campus say they are frustrated by the limited dining hall food selection and the changing weekend hours. Amid rising meal plan prices, students report that weekend dining hall services do not cater to those who rely on the dining hall most. This growing campus issue affects students who live on campus and are required to stay on weekends due to limited transportation and living too far from campus. 

Over the past year, Rutgers Camden has seen an increase in its enrollment, which was significantly lower three years ago. Along with this increase, Rutgers has raised its meal plan prices by approximately 800 dollars in the last year, from 1,800 dollars to 2,500 dollars in just less than a year.  The students are complaining that they are paying more despite the poor dining hall experience during the weekend. “My meal plan on tuition has increased from 1,800 to 2500 dollars since my freshman year,” said Destin, a residential student living on campus. 

On weekdays, the dining hall is open earlier, from 7:30 am to 9:30 pm, and offers a wider variety of food. On weekends, the dining hall opens at 10 am and stops letting students in at 7:45. Students are noticing a difference in food variety, with fewer options. The limited options are making students question whether weekend operations are equal to the commuter and staff schedules during the rest of the week.

Destin continued, “As someone who has to have a meal plan because I live on campus, it can be quite frustrating that hours and food options are limited to the students who pay the most money.”

“After a night out with my friends on the weekend, sometimes having a meal plan comes in handy when the conversation is about saving money in your wallet,” said Destin. “However, when the dining halls’ hours are cut short at 8, and they don’t let students in anymore or make any more food after 7:30, situations can get pricey.” 

Students who are active on the weekends in the morning or stay out late are forced to pricey alternatives, such as buying food from off-campus restaurants. Freshman dorms aren’t provided with a kitchen inside their suite, making them rely on the dining hall even more during their first year on campus. “During the weekend, I do end up buying dinner or breakfast usually because of the shortened hours,” says Destin  

Students note significant differences in dining hall options on weekends compared to weekdays, when most commuters are on campus. “During the weekend, I usually can only choose from the grill section or whatever the chief is making that day. Grubhub, Sandwich bar, Fruit bar, smoothie section, and desserts aren’t offered to students on campus during the weekend,” said Destin.  

Commuters on campus during the week have access to more dining hall benefits than residents. “The times I do pay to come inside, I use the salad bar, smoothie section, deli section, the special meals they serve each day, I also really look forward to the fruit provided in the fruit section during the weekdays I’m here,” said Liana, a commuter student here at Rutgers Camden. 

Commuter students also have the privilege of bringing their own lunch on some days and buying food in the dining hall, making it more cost-effective than purchasing a meal plan for the week. “As a commuter, I have the privilege of bringing my own lunch some days, or paying to get in the dining hall some days; I don’t rely on it as much as a resident,” shared Liana. 

Residential students say they hope the university will address the rising costs of meal plans as enrollment continues to rise, given the limited food options and weekend hours. As of now, Residential students hope for equality and better consistency within the weekday schedule and weekend dining hall services. 

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Students at Rutgers Camden have been increasingly distressed about the ability to afford required textbooks for their courses. After tuition and even housing costs for some students, high textbook pricing is requiring individuals to have to seek difficult alternatives and even reconsider their enrollment in the course entirely. During university syllabus week professors teaching their courses are required to assign materials and college students face a multitude of costs after tuition. 

Many college courses start before the first day of class. Required online textbooks need students to gain specific codes that allow them to access the book. These required codes limit students from being able to rent used copies of the readings, share, or find discounted versions of the books online. 

“Some students have been able to manage the courseload by borrowing the textbooks from a classmate; however, it almost always puts them at a severe disadvantage,” said a Rutgers Camden Nursing academic advisor. Students not having the access code pauses their ability to complete assignments, quizzes, and homework which are often linked to these digital textbooks, making students behind in their studies. 

“Textbooks were expensive and coming to the United States here on a student visa, I never felt like skipping out on the courses I needed to take was an appropriate option for me so, I had to find ways to make it work” said Joshua Chidi-Bernard, a Rutgers Camden alumni graduate student. 

Students have been navigating ways to afford these textbooks at the beginning of each semester. Often students have the ability to share textbooks with each other, or rent used copies of regular books and eBooks to make it more cost efficient. In some cases, students may have to unenroll from a course due to the inability to obtain the required textbook and materials in a timely manner. 

According to EducationData.org, college textbook prices have increased drastically over the last ten years, adding significant financial pressure to students already trying to manage expenses and tuition costs. 

“I tried to go about it as if textbooks were an investment into not only my education but other people’s lives as well,” said Chidi-Bernard. “As a new grad working with pharmaceuticals, you realize that someone else’s life is in your hands every day.” 

University advisors and faculty encourage students to seek out financial assistance and campus support if they are unable to pay for their textbooks. Still, numerous students on campus feel the burden and hardships of textbook prices on top of tuition. 

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