DNP – Returning to Spring 2021 Semester

DNP Students,

We hope you are experiencing a restful winter break. We now take this time to look forward to next week as the spring semester starts. Please pay close attention to the announcements below in this email and to the campus Covid Response website.

It is also during this time that we look to the future – to the spring semester. Please pay attention to the announcements below in this email and to the campus Covid Response website.

Returning for the spring semester

With the exception of clinical practicum and hands-on skills training, all didactic coursework will be remote. Many courses will require students to participate online in synchronous class meetings.

  • Students enrolled in onsite clinical skills courses in Cooper Hall must adhere to posted safely guidelines.
  • Students in clinical practicum are expected to know and adhere in full to the Covid-related screening and safety guidelines of their respective clinical placement sites.
  • Students who have not practiced social distancing or have had unprotected contact with others outside of their immediate household or exposures in their work setting without medical PPE must self-quarantine for at least seven days before coming to campus or going to their assigned clinical sites.
  • As nurses, it is especially important that you consistently observe and model the sound science of prevention and infection control:
  • As much as possible, stay home
  • Do what you can to limit close interactions with those outside of your immediate household.
  • Engage in necessary activities, like work or academics, only while using appropriate PPE
  • Be conscious of your own exposures as well as the risk you pose to others.
    • Always wear a mask or appropriate PPE
    • Observe social distancing guidelines
    • Do not eat or drink at indoor bars or restaurants.
    • Wash your hands frequently, appropriately, and adequately. Hand sanitizer is good. Soap and water are even better
    • If you have had an unprotected or high-risk exposure, quarantine and self-monitor in alignment with the requirements of your clinical site and CDC guidelines
  • Remember that being vaccinated for COVID does not completely eliminate your risk, nor does it eliminate the risk you pose to others.  Until an adequate proportion of the population is protected, we must continue all measures to reduce the spread.

Reporting Covid-19 exposures or positive test results

If you have been exposed to Covid-19 or have received a positive test result. Please report this using this FORM. The School of Nursing will work in partnership with you to ensure your continued success in your coursework and this information is important to those efforts.

Required testing for spring semester

  • Starting January 25, 2021, UW- Madison requires all graduate students to test weekly and have a negative result within eight days of coming to campus. You are asked to download and use the new Safer Badger App for screening and documentation of results, (available in the App Store and Google).
  • We hope to have updated information for those students who live significantly distant from Madison and will not frequently be coming to campus. We will communicate this with you when we know more information.
  • You will need to remain up to date with your testing in order to access campus buildings, including Cooper Hall. 
  • UW-Madison Test sites:
    • Nielsen Tennis Stadium
    • Mechanical Engineering Building 
    • Grainger Hall, 21 N Park St.
    • Camp Randall Sports Center (“the Shell”)
    • Carson Gulley Center
    • Dejope Residence Hall
    • The Kohl Center
    • Health Sciences Learning Center
    • Helen C. White Hall
    • Pyle Center
    • Union South
  • If you are enrolled in a clinical practicum course (N729 or N829), you will be expected to know and comply in full with your clinical site’s screening and reporting requirements.
    •  If you will be completing a clinical rotation with UWHC, the testing requirement for clinical learners has been amended to having a negative test within 96 hours before returning to clinical rotations. Learners should email their test results to CareerPathways@uwhealth.org, along with their program name and clinical rotation location.
    • Complete your UWH surveys promptly and in full. Failure to comply can result in suspension or expulsion from the clinical placement. This may also be true for other clinical settings.

UW-Madison is now screening for COVID using a saliva sample rather than a nasal swab.

In the hour before your test:

  • Do not drink (including water)
  • Do not eat
  • Do not brush or floss your teeth, or use mouthwash
  • Do not chew gum or smoke

You may also want to rinse or gargle your mouth with water to remove any discoloration (such as from coffee) or small pieces of food. Be sure to do this at least one hour before your test.

At your test:

  • Follow these tips for producing enough saliva.
  • Pool your drool under your tongue.
  • Keep your face covering on before you begin to drool into your funnel and tube; replace it between deposits.
  • Slide the tip of your tongue along your gums behind your teeth to stimulate your salivary glands and deposit this saliva in the funnel.
  • Avoid swishing saliva in your mouth or pulling saliva from the back of your mouth.

Wisconsin’s Health Care Worker Incentive Scholarship for Covid-19 Response

Many of you have participated in the state-wide initiative to support students who worked in health care between December 1, 2020 and February 1, 2021. If you have, you must complete the UW-Madison Health Care Worker form verifying the type of work and the hours worked to the Office of Student Financial Aid by March 31, 2021.

Students who qualify will receive the $500 scholarship by the end of the Spring 2021 semester – likely early April 2021. Students may receive only one $500 scholarship regardless of number of hours worked beyond the 50-hour minimum.

Questions about receiving the scholarship at UW-Madison should be directed to the Office of Student Financial Aid – finaid@finaid.wisc.edu, (608)262-3060.

We are looking to seeing you all again next week!