Volume 17, Issue 1 -

Objective For nursing students, competency in population health management involves acquiring knowledge and forming attitudes about the impact of the social determinants of health (SDoH) on health equity. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes about the SDoH and health equity following a focused simulation activity. Method Baccalaureate nursing students (N=182) participated in a ninety-minute health equity simulation and a post-simulation debrief. Forty-four students (23%) completed a 19-item post-simulation survey. Results Sixty-four percent of participants reported positive attitude change in working with marginalized populations caused by the SDoH, and 89% reported being knowledgeable about the role of the registered nurse in addressing health equity. Seventy-five percent reported enhanced knowledge of the SDoH through the health equity simulation. Conclusion Using health equity simulation may be effective in enhancing students’ knowledge, as well as their attitudes in caring for the health of marginalized populations by addressing the SDoH.

Objective Phenomenography is a qualitative research method used to explore the different ways individuals experience phenomena. Over the last few decades, use of the research method grew in various higher education disciplines; however, use of the method for nursing education research was limited until early in the 21 st century.Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe the main ideas of phenomenography methodology and provide a simplified integrative review of the contributions to nursing education research. Methods Whittemore and Knafl (2005) five-step integrative review process was used to guide the literature search and evaluate findings of published works between 2009 and 2019. Results Thirteen articles, including one comprehensive literature review, were identified in the literature search. Conclusion Findings illustrated phenomenography methodology was used to evaluate and improve teaching and learning principles, complex faculty and student issues, curriculum and professional development, and educational practices within nursing education. Phenomenography research can be instrumental in providing a more realistic worldview of individual differing experiences of nursing education phenomena.

Objectives The purpose of this paper was to compare test plans between the National Council Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) in the United States and the National Nursing Licensure Examination (NNLE) in China, to discuss the influence of passing standards and critical thinking in the test plans on candidates and nursing education, and to provide implications to improve the NNLE test plan. Methods After reading the 2019 NCLEX-RN test plan and the 2019 NNLE test plan, a side-by-side comparison was done to evaluate both test plans. Results In the NCLEX-RN test plan, a periodical RN practice analysis provides fundamental principles for the development of test content based on the Client Needs framework. Item writing and coding is guided by the theory of Bloom’s taxonomy. The passing standard for the NCLEX-RN is based on a criterion-referenced method to assess candidates’ competencies as newly licensed nurses. In the NNLE test plan, test content comprises primary nursing tasks, nursing knowledge, and knowledge of common diseases. The standard score, a norm-referenced method, is used as the passing standard. The NNLE test plan does not present information concerning principles used in the development of test content, and the guidance related to item writing and coding. Conclusion The NCLEX-RN provides systematic and evidence-based procedures to determine and evaluate test content and passing standards as compared with the NNLE. The standard score used in the NNLE disadvantages candidates of secondary nursing education. The lack of principles to guide item writing and coding in the NNLE fails to foster students’ critical thinking. To improve the NNLE test plan, further research should be conducted to improve test content, item writing, and examination evaluation methods.

Background A streamlined academic approach for career advancement is needed that allows practical or enrolled nurses to obtain a Bachelor of Nursing (BN) degree. One strategy in this approach is offering college-prepared Practical Nurses (PNs) the opportunity to transition into a baccalaureate program through a bridging course. Bridging initiatives serve as professional development opportunities for learners with personal growth and financial advantages on degree completion and enhance health and human resources for health care systems within national and international landscapes. Objective and methods A curricular model and strategies on how such a bridging course can be constructed are discussed in this article. The model integrates teaching and learning strategies as well as course sequencing, structure, and assessment strategies. Results and conclusion This innovative bridging curriculum offers Canadian and international nurse educators a programmatic guideline to create educational pathways for practical or enrolled nurses to obtain a baccalaureate degree. Completion of the bridging curriculum and BN program allow graduates to assume the RN role following a successful pass on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX).

With the many changes occurring within the health system and nursing education, ongoing shortages in the number of nurses and nursing faculty, increased incidences of incivility, and the charge to transform nursing education while upholding and transmitting the core professional values, a better understanding of the climate within nursing education is warranted. Caring is a core value of the profession of nursing and has received much attention and study, primarily in the practice setting. In nursing education much of this work has centered on the structure and processes of nursing education and the nursing student’s development of caring behaviors. This article proposes a caring model for nursing education that integrates the key concepts of organizational climate, leadership, and caring theories. The intent of the model is to provide a framework that can be used for professional nursing education that incorporates the core value of caring and develops graduates prepared to provide relationship-based, patient-centered care.

Objectives The aim of this study was to explore how nurse and midwife educators applied the knowledge and skills acquired from attending acontinuous professional development (CPD) workshop on teaching methodologies into their teaching practices in Rwanda. Methods A qualitative descriptive design was used with a purposive sample of 15 nursing and midwifery faculty members from six private and public post-secondary schools in Rwanda. Participants were involved in semi-structured individual interviews. Inductive content analysis was used for generating themes. Results Five themes emerged describing the educators’ teaching experiences: (1) enhanced teaching practices competencies; (2) application of knowledge and skills gained into classroom and clinical teaching; (3) collaboration and teamwork; (4) facilitators and challenges faced to the application of the knowledge and skills into practice; and (5) indirect outcomes to maternal, newborn, and child health care. Conclusion CPD workshops about teaching methodologies for nurse and midwife educators offer a substantive means of improving the quality of nursing and midwifery undergraduate education in Rwanda. There is, however, an ongoing need to address existing barriers to applying knowledge and skills to the practice of teaching.

Objective This study aimed to describe and compare the group-level findings from 2005–2006 and 2015–2016 regarding students’ and patients’ views of the nursing student-patient relationship and associated factors. Methods The data were in both cases collected using Student-Patient Relationship Scales. The data were analysed statistically. Results In both student cohorts, authoritative and facilitative student-patient relationships were reported by the students more frequently than mechanistic relationships. Authoritative relationships were most common in both patient cohorts, whereas facilitative relationships had become more frequent than mechanistic relationships. A positive change of views in the student and patient cohorts was found in factors associated with the relationship. Conclusion In order to strengthen a clinical learning culture that reflects a facilitative student-patient relationship, further research is needed on the processes and outcomes of that relationship.

Objectives Nursing students are ill equipped to handle uncivil situations in the workplace. The purpose of this project was to determine if providing students with education about identifying and addressing incivility would alter how students perceived their ability to recognize and address uncivil situations when encountered. Methods This pre–post-test comparative pilot study used the Generalized Self Efficacy Scale along with The Confidence Scale to measure student self-efficacy and confidence before and after the receipt of educational interventions on recognizing and addressing uncivil behaviors. Results The statistical analysis reveals an increase in both self-efficacy and confidence scores in recognizing and addressing uncivil behaviors following the educational interventions (p=0.000, p<0.001, respectively). Conclusions Educating pre-licensure nursing students about incivility increases self-efficacy and confidence levels in pre-licensure nursing students to recognize and address uncivil behaviors when encountered.

Objective To explore self-compassion and its role in supporting well-being, compassionate care, and the academic experience in undergraduate nursing students. Method Whittemore and Knafl’s (2005) integrative review methodology was used to search articles published between 2007 and 2020, which resulted in 36 articles meeting the inclusion criteria: compassion for self and others, strategies to support self-compassion; and self-compassion and student learning. Result Findings indicate that self-compassion may promote compassionate care, personal well-being, resilience, and emotional intelligence while supporting indicators of academic success. Compassion literacy, mindfulness training, and experiential exercises are some of the strategies that could be integrated into nursing curricula to enhance compassion in nursing students for self and others. Conclusion Integrating mindfulness and self-compassion in undergraduate curricula requires innovative teaching and learning approaches within a supportive organizational environment. To this end, a Self-Compassion Curricular Model to guide nursing programs is proposed.

Writing practices in nursing education programs are situated in a tension-filled context resulting from competing medical-technical and relational nursing discourses. The goal of this qualitative meta-study is to understand, from the student perspective, how the context for writing in nursing is constructed and the benefits of writing to nursing knowledge development. A literature search using the CINHAL, Medline, ERIC, and Academic Search complete databases, using systematic methods identified 21 papers and dissertations which gathered qualitative interview or survey data from students in nursing at the pre-registration, continuing education, and graduate levels. The studies provided evidence that writing assignments promote professional identity development but overemphasis on writing mechanics when grading have a deleterious effect on learning and student engagement with writing. Relationship building with faculty should extend beyond what is needed to maximize grades. Suggestions for writing pedagogical reform are identified to facilitate a change in focus from mechanical-technical to transformative writing.

Objectives Contemporary nurses require genomic literacy to engage in genomics-informed health care. Little is known about the genomic literacy of undergraduate nursing students and faculty in many countries. Concept inventories can be used to assess levels of knowledge and inform curriculum development. Methods The 31-item Genomic Nursing Concept Inventory (GNCI) was administered to undergraduate nursing students (n=207) and faculty (n=13) in a school of nursing with two sites in western Canada. Results Scores on the GNCI were low and comparable to those of US students and faculty. Six student characteristics were associated with total score on the GNCI. Conclusions Both students and faculty need to increase their knowledge of genomics. Mandates from national nursing organizations and international collaboration are needed to develop and implement foundational genomics content for undergraduate curricula to enable graduates to engage in genomics-informed health care.

Background Workplace violence is one of the most compelling problems facing health care sectors all over the world. The detrimental impact of workplace violence extends to affect nurse students who receive their training in clinical areas. Objective The study aimed to investigate the impact of witnessing workplace violence during clinical training on the attitudes of Jordanian nursing students toward the nursing profession. Methods Cross-sectional design was used in this study. Data were collected through electronic survey questionnaires from 131 nursing students from three nursing schools in Jordan. Attitude Scale for Nursing Profession was used to assess the participants’ attitude toward nursing profession. Results The results showed that about 34% of student participants witnessed workplace violence during their clinical training. Nursing student participants who did not witness workplace violence showed significantly more positive attitude toward nursing profession than who did witness. Conclusion Witnessing workplace violence had a significant negative impact on how nursing students view nursing job.

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of scenario-based learning (SBL) compared to traditional demonstration method on the development of patient safety behavior in first year nursing students. During the 2016–2017 academic year, the Fundamentals of Nursing course curriculum contained the teaching of demonstration method (n=168). In the academic year 2017–2018 was performed with SBL method in the same context (n=183). Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) that assesses the same three skills was implemented in both academic terms to provide standardization so that students could evaluated in terms of patient safety competency. It was found that students’ performance of some of the steps assessed were not consistently between the demonstration and SBL methods across the three skills. There was a statistically significant difference between demonstration method and SBL method for students’ performing the skill steps related to patient safety in intramuscular injection (p<0.05) Our results suggest that the integration of SBL into the nursing skills training may be used as a method of teaching in order to the development of patient safety skills.

Objective Journal clubs are accepted as an effective strategy for promoting evidence-based practice (EBP). However, journal clubs are underutilized in nursing education, and little is known about the impact of extracurricular, student-led journal clubs on EBP implementation among baccalaureate nursing students. The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact of journal club attendance on EBP implementation. Methods A web-based survey was conducted in April 2019 following eight sessions of monthly journal club among senior nursing students (n=78). Results Fifteen students attended four or more extracurricular, student-led journal club sessions (19.2%). EBP practice score was significantly higher among frequent journal club attendees. In multivariate analysis, journal club attendance was the significant predictor of EBP practice ( β =0.34; p=0.006). Conclusion Graduating senior nursing students who attend extracurricular, student-led journal club sessions are more likely to carry out EBP practice. Participation in journal clubs may help increase their EBP competencies.

Objectives The challenges of bioscience courses such as anatomy and physiology in nursing education are well documented. Virtual reality has recently become accessible and may support student engagement. The purpose of this project was to describe students’ engagement and experiences with virtual reality in a first-year nursing course on anatomy, physiology, and health assessment. Methods We used a cross-sectional design and collected both quantitative and qualitative data. The Exploratory Learning Model guided our work. Results Students perceived their engagement to be higher in virtual reality compared to other teaching methods. Their experiences were positive with students reporting that they found it easy to use, it helped their learning, and they recommended more of it. Conclusions Virtual reality is an accessible tool for supporting student engagement. The Exploratory Learning Model is a useful conceptualization for integrating virtual reality into a course. Future research on the relationship between virtual reality and learning achievements is warranted.

Objectives Novice nurses are struggling to exercise the critical thinking skill set needed to make competent clinical decisions in today’s complex health care environment. This poses immense threats to the health and safety of patients. To address this alarming concern, many prominent organizations have called for a widespread overhaul of nursing curricula. Methods A consistent theme among the recommendations for revising nursing curricula is the utilization of innovative curricula designs that focus on enhancing the critical thinking ability of nursing students, such as a concept-based curriculum. Results Planning and implementing a curriculum revision is an overwhelming undertaking. Conclusions Providing nurse educators with a guide on how to transition to a concept-based curriculum may help to facilitate a course revision.

Background Despite medical technology advancement, postpartum hemorrhage remains the top universal cause of maternal mortality. Factors note the inconsistency in recognition and timely treatment of women experiencing it, which suggests healthcare professionals’ mentorship about postpartum hemorrhage. Methods The study recruited 141 nurses and midwives and used instruments adapted to knowledge and self-efficacy to assess the impact of mentorship on nurses’ and midwives’ knowledge and self-efficacy in managing postpartum hemorrhage. Results There was an increase in knowledge from 68% prior to mentorship up to 87% and self-efficacy from 6.9 to 9.5 average score out of 10. Knowledge and self-efficacy correlated moderately positive at pre-mentorship ( r =0.214) and strongly positive at post-mentorship ( r =0.585). The number of mentorship visits attended was associated with post-mentorship knowledge scores ( r =0.539) and post-mentorship self-efficacy ( r =0.623). Conclusions Mentorship about management of postpartum hemorrhage increases nurses’ and midwives’ knowledge and self-efficacy in managing postpartum hemorrhage.

Introduction Globally, Evidence based nursing practice (EBNP) is becoming an expected norm for nursing practice. The small-scale activities surrounding this practice in African countries indicate a need for better approaches to enhance EBNP. One of these approaches is strengthening nursing education through EBNP education. Objectives The purpose of this paper is to provide strategies to African novice nurse educators to teach EBNP, with the ultimate goal of promoting it in clinical settings when the student nurses enter professional practice. Methods This is a discussion paper based on the results of a systematic review. Results In this paper, the authors create an understanding of EBNP, describe the state of nursing education in Africa, and propose the EBNP content to be taught as well as how to teach it. Conclusions Emphasis is on educational strategies that create student engagement, promote critical thinking, unite clinical and classroom settings, and are cost-effective within the context of Africa.

Objectives Clinical practice is a major component of nursing education wherein significant learning takes place. Nursing students experience stress in clinical practice which can have a negative impact on their learning. Guided by Lazarus and Folkman’s theory of stress and coping, this study explored nursing students’ perceptions of and experiences with coping with stress in clinical practice. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten undergraduate nursing students. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results The themes of: Learning about self, Knowing self, Value of social support, and Relationships with clinical instructors reflect participants’ descriptions of coping with stress. Students cognitive and behavioral strategies, including reflection, help them understand their stress and decide how to reduce its effects. Conclusions Supportive and respectful relationships are essential for a student to learn and cope effectively with stressful situations. Implications for improving the clinical instructor’s role to enhance students’ coping with stress in clinical practice are discussed.

Many Canadian nursing programs endorse clinical placements abroad. We critically examined the hidden curriculum embedded in clinical placements seeking to provide a ‘global’ experience. Using purposeful sampling, we interviewed a total of 18 participants, including eight faculty, eight students and two placement coordinators. Data were analyzed using initial and focused coding, supported by NVivo. After generating themes from the coded data, we adapted Hafferty’s (1998) framework to further analyze the theme of the hidden curriculum. The findings illuminate how policies sustained international experience as a privileged endeavour, with restricted access based on grades. Placements incorporated little evaluation of benefits for local communities. Few resources were allocated to students for such placements, as many students paid for their placement. The institutional terms ‘international and global experience’ denoted interactions with cultural “Others”. We recommend that nursing programs attend to hidden practices that sustain clinical placements abroad as prestigious, commodified experiences.

Objectives This paper reports on nursing students’ and nurses’ lived experiences mediating their development of humanistic caring. Methods Using interpretive phenomenology, 26 participants were individually interviewed. A five-stage phenomenological analysis based on Benner’s (Benner, P. (1994). Interpretive phenomenology: Embodiment, caring, and ethics in health and illness . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE) method occurred simultaneously. Results The analysis highlighted that the development of humanistic caring is affected by role models and counterexamples, environments in which humanistic caring is exalted or trivialized, communication-related courses, patient storytelling, and work overload. Conclusions It might be valuable to raise the awareness of nurse educators about their opportunity in shaping the development of students’ humanistic caring.

Objectives Examine and analyze the resilience levels of first and second semester BSN students in order to check for significant increases and decreases in resilience levels and factors. Methods Resilience levels were collected using the Connor Davidson CD-RISC-25 tool in both first and second semester students. Results No significant increases in resilience from first to second semester were noted, as anticipated. Several key areas showed significant decrease. Conclusion Resilience levels do not necessarily increase from one semester to the next; however, several significant decreases in levels did occur, suggesting a need for a resilience training module in the nursing program.

Clinical faculty have a critical role in recognizing the stress students experience in the clinical environment. Despite an increasing body of research on stress and student perceptions of stress, faculty perceptions of student stress have been relatively unexplored. A qualitative descriptive design provided a rich description of clinical nursing faculty perceptions of undergraduate baccalaureate nursing student stress in the clinical environment. Colaizzi's method guided data analysis. Four themes that emerged from the interview data were: feeling overwhelmed when encountering the unknown, which included the sub-themes of facing self-doubt and experiencing insecurity in nursing actions; struggling with personal life factors; enduring uncivil clinical interactions; and contending with nursing faculty interactions. This study assists in filling the gap for nursing education by providing a rich description of student stress as described by faculty. Implications include providing faculty a clearer understanding of the stress phenomenon so they may better educate and evaluate students.

Objectives Nurses must contribute to the development of professional practice and thereby improve quality of care by using their research abilities. Therefore, learning communities comprised of nurses, students and teachers were created in a hospital. Methods A qualitative descriptive methodology was used. Three learning communities were purposefully selected, and members were asked open-ended questions about their learning and activities in multiple data collection sessions. Data were analyzed by means of an inductive process. Results Both individually and collectively, members learned about research in general, research terminology and methods. They learned about asking questions and critical thinking, and, specifically through collective learning, they learned about the differences between education practices. Activities were carried out primarily to continue personal learning. Conclusions Learning within the learning communities was mainly research-oriented and therefore potentially suitable for enhancing research ability. Implications are offered to support the formulation of community activities.

Background Nurse educators are challenged to design courses that maintain rigor, promote student learning, maximize resource utilization, and ultimately prepare graduates for clinical practice. Purpose An innovative teaching strategy was used to educate BSN level students in nursing inquiry with a collaborative project. Methods Course faculty incorporated information literacy (IL) and evidence-based practice (EBP) competencies into an undergraduate research course by taking the traditional practicum research project and redesigning it as a longitudinal scoping review (ScR) collaborative project. Results At course conclusion, students verbalized having a deeper appreciation for nursing research, confidence in performing a literature search, and conducting a research critique. Conclusions The students’ contributions towards the ScR through their collaborative project work fostered personal growth in IL and EBP competencies through a meaningful project that can extend beyond the classroom to possibly influence patient care.

English-as-a-second-language (ESL) nursing students fail out of nursing programs at a far higher rate than native English speakers. There are many reasons for this trend, however academic failure related to poor performance on multiple-choice (MC) exams, is the most common. Objective The purpose of this interventional comparative research study was to determine the effect of linguistic modification (LM) of MC exam questions on score and timing of ESL compared to native English-speaking nursing students. Method Two-factor analysis of variance and a mixed-effects regression were applied to the data from 69 participants. Results Statistical significance was noted as related to time. All students took significantly less time to complete the LM questions in comparison to the standard questions. Conclusion LM is a process that should be used by nursing faculty to create fair evaluation instruments for all nursing students.

Objectives High-stakes exams are a source of chronic stress that may adversely affect nursing students’ thinking, behavior, and overall health. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships of perceived stress, physiological stress reactivity, and exit exam performance. Methods A within-subjects design allowed measurement of perceived stress, salivary cortisol, and salivary alpha amylase in pre-licensure nursing students under two different conditions: a high-stakes exit exam and a low-stakes homework assignment. Results Perceived stress and salivary alpha amylase were significantly higher after the high-stakes exam compared to the homework condition. Perceived stress after the exam was correlated with lower exam score. Conclusion Study findings suggest that in response to a high-stakes exam, prelicensure nursing students experience high levels of perceived stress coupled with sympathetic activation but not activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis.

A scoping review of published literature and dialogue with international nurse practitioner educators and researchers revealed the education of nurse practitioner students varied within and between countries. This lack of cohesiveness hinders nurse practitioner role development and practice nationally and internationally. A rapid review of grey literature was conducted on nurse practitioner education standards in six countries (Australia, Canada, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, and USA). Data were extracted from graduate level nurse practitioner education programs’ websites from each country (n = 24). Extracted data were verified for accuracy and completeness with a nurse practitioner educator from each program. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Variations in nurse practitioner education within and between countries were explored by comparing admission criteria, curricular content, clinical requirements, teaching methods, and assignment and evaluative methods. The findings will help inform education programs and further research about nurse practitioner education internationally.

Objectives The purpose of this project was to implement and evaluate the integration of a computer-based virtual simulation program into a community clinical course as an alternative or complement to conventional clinical with agencies or neighbourhoods. Securing quality community health clinical opportunities for undergraduate nursing students remains challenging. In addition, evidence of a theory-practice gap in community clinical education, particularly in non-traditional settings, suggests that nurse educators need to adopt different pedagogies to ensure that students will gain competencies necessary to practice community/population health nursing. In response, we piloted the use of Sentinel City ® 3.0, a virtual reality simulation program. Method A 5-point Likert-style questionnaire was administered to students randomly assigned to different clinical placements. Results Results indicated that there were no learning outcomes in which students in Sentinel City ® 3.0 reported percentages lower than students in agencies or geographical neighbourhoods. When there were statistically significant differences, students engaged in Sentinel City ® 3.0 performed better than students in other experiences. Conclusion We recommend further exploration of multi-contextual pedagogies for community clinical.

Objective The objective was to test the assumption that characteristics of intentional learning are not fixed and if an interview assignment enhanced intentional learning. Methods In order to meet the needs of practice, nursing educators have trialed student-centered pedagogies, often with resistance from students. Intentional learning appears to mirror the characteristics, such as autonomy, responsibility of one’s own learning, self-regulation, and motivation, needed by students to be successful in student-centered pedagogies. Intentional learning had not been studied in nursing. A quasi-experimental pre/post-test design was used to test intentional learning in nursing students (N=92). Results While the interview assignment did not enhance intentional learning scores, intentional learning scores did significantly increase over the semester (p=0.039). Conclusion Intentional learning scores did increase, showing that students move along the intentional learning continuum depending on their learning experiences. Future research should include testing teaching strategies that foster intentional learning.

Accreditation of simulation programs is relatively new, and entails a rigorous process of planning, development and evaluation of all aspects of the simulation experience for students and/or health care professionals. The purpose of this paper is to describe the experience of a Nursing Simulation Program in achieving designation as a fully accredited program. The process of developing a formal simulation program, strategic plan, policies and procedures, and an evaluation plan are included, as well as the benefits to achieving accreditation.

Objectives Undergraduate nursing and first-year medical students participated in a brief, scenario-based, interprofessional event. The experimental group only was provided an innovative, rapid e-learning instructional module focused on interprofessional roles/responsibilities and communication prior to the event. Methods Pre-post attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration were surveyed, and collaborative behaviors were observed during the event. Results For the experimental group, a statistically significant (p<0.05) attitude improvement was found between pre-post e-learning module scores as well as pre-e-learning module and post-simulation event scores. For the control group, a statistically significant (p=0.001) attitude improvement was found between pre-post simulation event scores. No statistically significant differences in team collaborative behaviors were observed between experimental and control. Conclusions The combination of module and simulation event was not a more effective option than the event alone. As both interventions present unique challenges in regards to technology and facility requirements, having multiple effective intervention options will be of benefit to educational institutions.

Aim Engage faculty in conversations about their work environment to identify perceptions of their academic work environment (AWE) over a three-year period. Background Research pertaining to the clinical work environment is prevalent, however there is a paucity of research investigating the nursing AWE. Method Fifteen faculty were interviewed and involved with a participatory action research (PAR) study. Results Faculty identified four themes: (1) faculty need to be engaged in defining healthy work environments (HWEs); (2) faculty identified challenges in developing and maintaining a HWE; (3) “time and space” are required to focus on HWE; and (4) respect for colleagues and care of self are essential for maintaining a HWE. Conclusions This study identified characteristics of an AWE. It adds to the existing literature on HWE by including the academic setting. The study findings contributes to nurse educator workforce development by providing practical information for nursing educators, academic administrators, and faculty preceptors. Many future recommendations will continue to add to this body of literature.

Incivility is a concerning occurrence in nursing education. Examining the concept of incivility is critical to the development of strategies used to prevent and mitigate experiences in nursing education. The purpose of this paper is to examine this concept through theoretical lenses of oppressed group behaviour, attribution theory, and conceptual models of empowerment. A critical social theory perspective is outlined as an additional theoretical approach to studying incivility in nursing education. Examination through various theoretical lenses may help to describe, explain, and predict incivility in nursing education. Theoretical considerations of this concept are limited but may hold the key to comprehensive understanding and advancement of knowledge. The ultimate goal of theoretical and knowledge development of incivility in nursing education is the creation and maintenance of civil educational environments.

During nursing education, nursing students are required to develop their competence to be able to fulfill their duties safely as Registered Nurses. The aims of this study were to explore 1) nursing students’ self-assessed competence levels during education 2) the relationship with competence and frequency at which competencies are utilized in clinical practice, and 3) factors related to competence levels. 841 (response rate 67.6 %) nursing students responded to the Nurse Competence Scale in a cross-sectional study. The self-assessed overall competence levels were improving during the education continuum (VAS-means 1st 56.6; 2nd 58.3; 3rd 59.8 and 3.5th -year students 68.4). Every group revealed a significant positive correlation with competence and frequency at which competencies are utilized in clinical practice in clinical placement. Risk factors for low competence were also identified. Systematic multimethod competence evaluations with longitudinal designs are needed to monitor outcomes of nursing education.

The interdependence of student learning strategies and teacher’s pedagogical practices is critical to clinical practice learning. While research demonstrates that formative assessment feedback is important for student learning, clinical teachers do not necessarily have the competencies to provide effective feedback to support students’ self-regulated learning (SRL). An examination of clinical education through SRL lenses articulates two roles for clinical teachers in nursing clinical education: self-regulated learner and self-regulated teacher. Teachers as self-regulated learners are practice-content experts and must also learn how to explicitly help students become self-regulated learners. The latter is the self-regulated teacher role, and a self-regulated teacher is an effective clinical teacher. Minimal research addresses the ways in which clinical teachers’ effectiveness could be improved if they took on a self-regulated teacher role. A model of SRL and teaching in clinical practice education is presented and its potential to enhance clinical teacher effectiveness and student SRL articulated.

This is an experimental, quantitative, parallel design study (control and experimental groups) with pre- and post-intervention assessment without blinding, which aimed to determine the effect of an educational intervention delivered to ninety Colombian senior nursing students to strengthen perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care for people with chronic illness. The Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS) was used as the instrument of measurement. The Wilcoxon test was used for comparisons between two groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis test for the comparison of global scale scores between the intervention group and the control group. To determine the effect of the intervention, Cohen’s d statistic was used. The intervention modified the perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care in the experimental group (median = 80.2, SD = 10.2) compared with their initial perceptions (median = 70, SD = 11.2), p ≤ 0.001. The effect size (ES) of the intervention was 0.63, with a power of 0.80, indicating a moderate and acceptable effect size.

Master teachers are associated with achieving excellence in teaching; however, there are no research studies that describe master teachers in nursing. Based on an analysis of interview responses from eleven, experienced, full-time, undergraduate nurse educators, this qualitative study offers an empirically based description of characteristics and behaviors of master teachers in nursing. This description of master teachers provides nurse educators with characteristics and behaviors that may be needed to develop a master teacher practice. Increasing the number of master teachers in nursing could have implications for creating teaching criteria to evaluate teaching practice and develop professional development activities.