Volume 7, Issue 1

Developing and implementing a positive psychosocial environment should be one of the main responsibilities of educators. As educators influence the climate, learning is enhanced or hindered. Therefore educators need to understand their own teaching perspectives and how they in turn influence the classroom. Data were collected from nurse educators and BSN nursing students. The relationship between faculty teaching perspectives and the students' perceptions of the learning environment was examined. The data collection tool used to measure the educators' perspective was the Instructional Perspective Inventory (IPI), and to measure the students' perspective was the Adult Classroom Environment Scale (ACES). A MANCOVA was used to determine the relationship and significant differences between educators' and students' perspectives. The results indicated that the teachers in the high group of teacher responsiveness had students who reported greater teacher support, time on task, focus, organization, clarity of subject content, involvement, and satisfaction.

University students in this millennium will be older, culturally diverse and likely to change their career major several times during the course of their education. Methods to identify and guide appropriate students toward nursing are lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop and initially test a 48-item Likert-scaled instrument, the Career Search Questionnaire (CSQ), which assesses interest in and self-efficacy for nursing. Data were obtained from 300 volunteer students, with implied consent, enrolled in beginning-level courses at a Midwestern university. Response differences were apparent between individuals who reported nursing as a college major compared to those who sought a different major. Participants who reported nursing as their major obtained higher scores in both interest (p = 0.00) and self-efficacy (p = 0.00). The CSQ is psychometrically sound, with a reliability score of 0.87 and capable of identifying the student for whom nursing may be the suitable career.

Application of evidence is accepted as an important component of clinical practice. Teaching research to undergraduate students has been reported internationally as a challenge, particularly for nurse educators. In this paper, reported is a strategy designed to enhance research learning for undergraduate midwifery students at one university, which formed part of a larger, international investigation into women's responses to caesarean birth. Following theory classes and briefings, students worked with their clinical educators in practice to interview women using existing tools, and were engaged in qualitative data analysis. A number of challenges were encountered throughout the process, both for the educators and students. However, the teaching approach provided benefits for students in learning about midwifery research. Recommended as essential is for continued development of pedagogical approaches that make research tangible for students. Furthermore, provision of support for clinical staff working with students is important for success of such approaches.

A sense of urgency exists among nurse educators to determine the best possible teaching strategies to create a rich, engaging learning environment for students. With the calls for transformation, innovation, and excellence in nursing education from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, and the National League for Nursing, educators may determine that current teaching strategies fall short. Team-based learning, an innovative teaching strategy, offers educators a structured, student-centered learning environment and may be effective in teaching necessary skills to students. An overview of how this strategy fosters many of the essential concepts, such as critical thinking, professionalism, communication, and interprofessional teamwork, is presented. Additionally, this article offers a clearly delineated "recipe" for implementing team-based learning in the classroom. This innovative strategy has the potential to transform nursing education and provide a positive teaching and learning environment for both educators and students.

The utility of personal digital assistants (PDA) as a point of care resource in health care practice and education presents new challenges for nursing faculty. While there is a plethora of PDA resources available, little is known about the variables that effect student learning and technology adoption. In this study nursing students used PDA software programs which included a drug guide, medical dictionary, laboratory manual and nursing diagnosis manual during acute care clinical experiences. Analysis of student journals comparative reflective statements about the PDA as an adjunct to other available resources in clinical practice are presented. The benefits of having a PDA included readily available data, validation of thinking processes, and facilitation of care plan re-evaluation. Students reported increased frequency of use and independence. Significant correlations between user perceptions and computer self-efficacy suggested greater confidence in abilities with technology resulting in increased self-awareness and achievement of learning outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to describe the learner-centered teaching characteristics of nurse faculty who report using contemporary pedagogy. A secondary analysis of data collected by an international survey of nurse educators regarding pedagogical teaching approaches and strategies was used to answer the research questions.The study sought to: 1) describe characteristics emerging from faculty response, 2) make inferences from faculty responses regarding meaning, and 3) make inferences regarding the importance of the meaning to nursing.A qualitative research design was used to address the research question. Themes that emerged were placed under the concepts of power, role of teacher, responsibility of learner, and philosophy of evaluation guided by Weimer's (2002) conceptual framework of a learner-centered philosophy of teaching. Themes and meaning units derived from the study helped to generate textual and structure statements that represent the characterizations of learner-centered nurse educators.

Dialogue continues on the "readiness" of new graduates for practice despite significant advancements in the foundational educational preparation for nurses. In this paper, the findings from an exploratory study about the meaning of new graduate "readiness" for practice are reported. Data was collected during focus group interviews with one-hundred and fifty nurses and new graduates. Themes were generated using content analysis. Our findings point to agreement about the meaning of new graduate nurses' readiness for practice as having a generalist foundation and some job specific capabilities, providing safe client care, keeping up with the current realities of nursing practice, being well equipped with the tools needed to adapt to the future needs of clients, and possessing a balance of doing, knowing, and thinking. The findings from this exploratory study have implications for policies and programs targeted towards new graduate nurses entering practice.

The ability to clearly express complex ideas in writing is necessary for nurses in professional practice at all levels from novice to expert. The community health nursing course is specially designated as writing intensive to provide students with the experience of preparing a major scholarly paper. To address issues of poor paper quality and grade inflation we implemented a program including a writing workshop for faculty, a revision of the grading rubric, and a system of blind review for grading student papers. Changes resulted in a major shift in paper grades which more closely reflects the actual quality of the work.

The nursing discipline in the United States (US) has a history of creating various doctorates. One such degree, the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), serves as an alternative to the traditional Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree for Nurse Practitioners (NPs) exploring career options. The availability of the DNP has sparked a debate within the profession: close attention to the issues is warranted for any school considering the development of a DNP program. However, some of these issues are not applicable, or apply differently to other contexts including Canada, where the highest level of education for an NP is a PhD. This article will review the history of doctoral education in both countries, compare the practice-focused and research-focused doctorates, discuss the issues of debate, and explore implications for NP practice. To fully inform the decision of the NP, we recommend further research to explore the need for a practice doctorate.

The challenge to transfer the health care of Aboriginal peoples of Canada from non-Aboriginal to predominantly Aboriginal health professionals, requires preliminary innovative approaches in post-secondary education. Described in this paper, is the background, development and progress to date of the Integrated Nursing Access Program (INAP) for Aboriginal students, and its phenomenological approach to curriculum design. Traditional indigenous knowledge and methodologies are embedded in process learning and university-level program activities. Learning in this INAP Bachelor of Nursing program occurs over three years, during which time students complete high school requirements together with some first year nursing courses. The program is followed by three additional years of exclusive baccalaureate level nursing education. To date, students have successfully completed the first half of this program.

In this article, we explore the extent to which theory-based research is informing our understanding of high-fidelity simulation use in nursing education. We reviewed the primary literature archived in the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Applied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Proquest Dissertation and Theses for empirical reports using the key terms high-fidelity simulation and nursing from the years 1989 to 2009. Of the articles that matched our inclusion criteria: 45% made no use of theory; 45% made minimal use; and 10% made adequate use. We argue that theory-based research could bring coherence and external validity to this domain.

Patient simulation is increasingly used in the education of healthcare providers, yet few studies have compared simulation to other teaching modalities. The purpose of this study was to determine differences in knowledge acquisition and student satisfaction between two methods of teaching the principles of mechanical ventilation to advanced practice nursing (APN) students: high-fidelity patient simulation (including face-to-face instruction) versus an online, narrated PowerPoint presentation. Twenty APN students were randomized to either the simulation or online teaching method in this pre/posttest study. Measures included a 12-item knowledge questionnaire and a 5-item satisfaction survey. Both groups had significant improvement in knowledge scores from pretest to posttest, but knowledge scores were not significantly different at posttest between groups. Student satisfaction with their learning method was significantly higher in the simulation group. Students choosing to participate in the alternative teaching method after study completion preferred the simulation to the online method.

The shortage of nursing faculty and the need for MSN-prepared faculty to have access to doctoral education and remain in their teaching roles has resulted in a growing number of nurse education programs moving online. A better understanding of how best to support faculty during this transition is needed. This case study describes the experiences of faculty at one institution as they participated in a grassroots effort to learn about online teaching. Six themes related to the faculty development experience were identified: 1) plugging in; 2) peer sharing, modeling and community building; 3) multidimensional learning; 4) role-shifting and meta-learning; 5) paradigm shifting; and 6) sustaining momentum. Findings are connected to recommendations related to how best to prepare faculty to ensure that quality nursing education continues.

The researchers surveyed nursing students yearly during their three-year education, and examined active and emotional engagement. We examined the association of these properties with seven independent variables: higher educational institution, class size, age, gender, prior assistant nurse education, study experience and self-rated health. This longitudinal study included 1,334 students from 24 universities and university colleges in Sweden. Active engagement increased and emotional engagement decreased during the study years. Male students, older students and those with prior assistant nurse education had higher active engagement than other students. Older students, females, students with good self-rated health and those attending universities had higher emotional engagement. Study results suggest that higher educational institutions should pay more attention to students’ active and emotional engagement in learning situations, since this may increase the ability of the students to cope with stressful events during their education, giving them an extra resource on which they can draw.

Since the aim of this study was to understand human experience, phenomenology was used to research the lived experience of chronically ill baccalaureate nursing students. Purposive sampling yielded ten participants with at least one diagnosed chronic illness. Interviews were tape-recorded and verbatim transcriptions were analyzed through the seven-step Colaizzi (1978) method. Four major themes emerged: (1) needing to be normal, (2) dealing with the behaviors of others, (3) enduring the restrictions of illness, and (4) learning from self to care for others. This study supported previous findings about the disruption of illness and the methods used by the chronically ill to cope with disease-related symptoms. It also showed that chronic illness creates an inner strength and an intuitive knowledge about the body that provides meaning and direction in the lives of the chronically ill and yields a deeper understanding about the needs of others.

Web-based computer learning objects, such as Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs), are becoming more commonplace in nursing and medical education. However, evaluation of RLOs specifically has been limited. The aim of the study was to determine how RLOs impact on the student learning experience and to compare the use and evaluation of RLOs by nursing and medical students. An online questionnaire survey was completed by 233 students (163 nursing and 73 medical). RLOs were more commonly used by nursing students than medical students. Students in both disciplines valued RLOs for flexibility of learning, as revision aids, and to supplement classroom-based learning. Nursing and medical students have different learning needs, and developing materials at the right level of learning is important. Barriers to the use of RLOs included lack of IT competence, technical difficulties, and lack of staff awareness of computer-based learning aids.

Recent Australian health care reform in all jurisdictions of government, have attempted to address the need to curtail the burden of chronic disease by adopting and or referring to a primary health care (PHC) approach. In this way, community health nurses are challenged to demonstrate their understanding and capacity to practice according to primary health care principles. Evaluated in this paper is the impact a community health nursing curriculum adaptation of the Public Health Intervention Model (PHIM) has had on students’ understanding and application of PHC to community nursing practice. A thematic analysis was utilized to review student assessment tasks. Generated themes support the PHIM adaptation, as a means to facilitate students' cognitive learning of community nursing practice interventions ‘greater than treating the wound’, and thus this model is particularly pertinent to future Bachelor of Nursing curriculum development and Australian Community Health Nursing.

Development of safe nursing practice in entry-level nursing students requires special consideration from nurse educators. The paucity of data supporting high-fidelity patient simulation effectiveness in this population informed the development of a quasi-experimental, quantitative study of the relationship between simulation and student self-confidence and clinical competence. Moreover, the study reports a novel approach to measuring self-confidence and competence of entry-level nursing students. Fifty-three baccalaureate students, enrolled in either a traditional or simulation-enhanced laboratory, participated during their first clinical rotation. Student self-confidence and faculty perception of student clinical competence were measured using selected scale items of the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric. The results indicated an overall improvement in self-confidence and competence across the semester, however, simulation did not significantly enhance these caring attributes. The study highlights the need for further examination of teaching strategies developed to promote the transfer of self-confidence and competence from the laboratory to the clinical setting.

Annually, 10-33% of U.S. lactating women develop mastitis. Often underreported, mastitis has acute and chronic sequelae with rare documented cases of invasive breast surgery due to pervasive infection. Evidenced-based prevention, early recognition, and treatment of mastitis are not emphasized in the undergraduate nursing profession textbooks or academic settings.Using current evidence-based research on postpartum mastitis, and concepts of maximizing cognition, this pre and post test study examines the knowledge acquired and retained utilizing traditional teaching methods compared to a multimodal teaching video on mastitis with a baccalaureate nursing student population. A significant difference in knowledge acquisition was noted between pre and post tests results. Furthermore, using Benner’s novice to expert criteria, baccalaureate student nurses improved their ability to articulate lay and professional descriptions of and treatment for mastitis. These results emphasize the significance of lactation curricula in undergraduate nursing programs and the importance of utilizing multimodal delivery methods.

Role transition from registered nurse to advanced practice nurse is a difficult process. A qualitative thematic analysis guided the integration of various experiences of 24 students in a two-credit, web-based role development course in a Master's of Science in Nursing program at a large Midwestern university. Findings supported that students had developed an understanding of the core competencies and complexity of the advanced practice nurse role, and that beginning role transition had occurred. An overarching theme, ‘the essence of nursing’ was evident. Three sub-themes supported the occurrence of role transition, which included the importance of: a) building a framework for nursing practice, b) direct patient care, and c) comprehension and exemplification of professional responsibilities. This study has implications for nurse educators interested in promoting advanced practice nurse role transition early in the educational process.

Currently, considerable focus is directed at improving clinical experiences for nursing students, with emphasis placed on adequate support and supervision for the purpose of creating competent and safe beginning practitioners. Preceptors play a vital role in supporting, teaching, supervising and assessing students in clinical settings as they transition to the graduate nurse role. Intrinsic to this model is the assumption that the one-to-one relationship provides the most effective mechanism for learning. With the current Registered Nurses (RN) shortage, among other factors, the one-to-one relationship may not be feasible or as advantageous to the student. Thus, nurse educators need to carefully assess how this relationship is configured and maintained to assist them in fostering its evolution. In this review of the literature, the authors explore the assumption that a one-to-one relationship in the preceptorship experience fosters a rich and successful learning environment, and implications for nursing education, practice and research are outlined.

The purpose of this quantitative descriptive pre- and post-survey study was to analyze four years of data documenting differences in pre- and post-test responses by American Indian/Alaska Native high school students attending a weeklong residency program. The program was designed to provide information and role models to motivate students to go to college and pursue a career in nursing. The survey measured student perceptions of college and nursing. In addition, the analysis included comparisons of responses between students who lived on reservations and those who did not. Results demonstrated that students changed their views of nursing as a profession, how they would be perceived by their tribe, and the financial security they could gain. Students living on their reservations were concerned that college might be too far from home. Recommendations include the need to provide indigenous students with role models and accurate information as well as mentors to support them.

The shortage of graduate-level prepared nurses is reaching critical levels. Combined with an anticipated wave of faculty retirements, a relatively older graduate student body, and an insufficient number of graduates at the Masters’ and doctoral levels, the recruitment of more and younger students into graduate programs in nursing has become a priority for the profession. Current understanding of why undergraduate nursing students choose to pursue graduate studies in nursing remains vague. A non-experimental descriptive correlational study was designed and 87 useable surveys were collected from fourth-year baccalaureate nursing students at a large South-Western Ontario University (response rate = 67%). The influence of student valuation of graduate studies and self-efficacy (SE) for graduate studies on student intention to pursue graduate studies in nursing was clearly demonstrated with this study (R2 = .52). Implications for nursing education include working towards undergraduate curricula that enhance students’ valuation of and SE for graduate studies in nursing.

Socialization includes internalization of attitudes and values critical to the development of a professional identity. Resocialization relates to the returning registered nurse student's development of professional values and roles. Nurse educators’ challenge is to consider socialization/resocialization as a formation/re-formation process. The purpose of this article is to report findings from a replication qualitative descriptive study that examined the process of change in knowledge and attitudes of recent MSN graduates using Mezirow’s (1994)Transformative Learning Theory. Findings substantiated the changes in attitudes, knowledge and skills of MSN graduates identified by Cragg and Andrusyszyn (2005). Results further inform nurse educators of the process of transformation in MSN graduates according to Mezirow’s Phases of Perspective Transformation.

Hispanic registered nurses (RNs) are poorly represented in professional nursing, comprising only 1.7% of RNs despite representing 15% of the population of the United States. Furthermore, their numbers are actually decreasing in nursing at the same time the Hispanic population is experiencing serious health disparities. This descriptive, interpretive study explores strategies used by Hispanic nursing students to overcome obstacles from the perspectives of 13 currently enrolled students and recent graduates through focus groups and individual interviews. Successful students were highly motivated to succeed, while at the same time able to maintain strong cultural ties and family responsibilities, and used a strategy they called being cabezona (stubborn) in the face of numerous obstacles, including discrimination. Recommendations for nurse educators are presented, including the need for increased flexibility, mentoring support, and including curricular content about issues of privilege and oppression in nursing programs.

Nursing students are expected to have competency in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR): they may care for patients at risk for cardiac arrest and may encounter other emergency situations in their clinical practice. In the United States, students may take a basic life support (BLS) course prior to entering a nursing program or beginning their clinical experience. Extensive research has shown, however, that CPR knowledge and skills decline rapidly, within weeks of completing a course. The purpose of this paper is to describe advantages and barriers to the use of HeartCode™ BLS with voice advisory manikins for learning and practicing CPR psychomotor skills in a nursing education program.

Studies to date have employed a variety of methods to elucidate the cognitive processes that underlie nursing actions in clinical situations. Most studies relied on clinical case scenarios rather than actual patient care situations, and did not supplement cognitive measures with quantitative measures of performance or physiologic outcomes of care. The present study employed a quasi-experimental design to describe and compare the verbal report data of baccalaureate nursing students who were assigned to high and low performing groups based on their ability to alter the physiological trajectory of the patient in a simulated task environment. Low performing participants observed many irrelevant cues and failed to perform vital actions in lieu of extraneous actions that were not directly related to the patient’s condition. Higher performing students were better able to recognize salient symptoms suggestive of deterioration in the patient’s condition and were more expeditious intervening to improve the patient’s physiological status.

As effective communication is an essential professional competency that is conceptualized and developed during undergraduate education, the purpose of this study was to investigate and reinforce the role of communication in the nursing undergraduate curriculum. Analysis of faculty and student focus group discussions revealed the benefit of purposefully structuring and explicitly articulating communication education throughout the undergraduate curriculum for increased accessibility and visibility of communication education, expanded ranges of available teaching and learning methods and resources, and strengthened ability to address undermining mixed communication messages. These findings have implications for how to specifically include communication education in a learning-centered undergraduate curriculum.

The stagnation in the supply of nurses necessitates the adoption of contextually-relevant strategies to attract recruits to the profession. The objective of this study was to understand how prospective candidates could be influenced to enter the profession, by determining what motivated current South African nurses to choose nursing as a profession. Support on entering the profession and employment security were rated as most important, while the influence of others and extrinsic rewards associated with nursing were perceived to be less important. Although private sector nurses and nurses who intended to change their employment sector were significantly more likely to rate employment security and extrinsic rewards highly, and public sector nurses and nurses from the more rural areas thought that the immediacy of support on entering the profession and intrinsic factors where more important, a homogenous approach to recruitment is possible.

In this qualitative study, we explored how students understood “culture." Participants defined culture and wrote narratives regarding specific cultural encounters. The sample comprised both nursing (n=14) and non-nursing (n=8) students to allow for comparison groups. Content analysis of the narratives revealed two broad paradigms of cultural understanding: essentialist and constructivist. Essentialist narratives comprised four themes: determinism (culture defied individual resistance); relativism (the possibility of making value judgments disappeared); Othering (culture was equated to exotica, and emphasized difference); and, reductionism (personhood was eclipsed by culture). In contrast, the constructivist narratives were characterized by influence (non-determinism), dynamism (culture was dynamic and evolutionary); and, relationship-building. The unintended negative consequences of essentialist notions of culture were revealed in the nursing students’ narratives. Pedagogy is implicated in nursing students’ essentialized understanding of culture.

Nurses are challenged to find and use reliable, credible information to support clinical decision-making and to meet expectations for evidence-based nursing practice. This project targeted practicing public health and school nurses, teaching them how to access and critically evaluate web-based information resources for frontline practice. Health sciences librarians partnered with nursing faculty to develop two participatory workshops to teach skills in searching for and evaluating web-based consumer and professional practice resources. The first workshop reviewed reliable, credible consumer web-resources appropriate to use with clients, using published criteria to evaluate website credibility. In the second workshop, nurses were taught how to retrieve and evaluate health-related research from professional databases to support evidence-based nursing practice. Evaluation data indicated nurses most valued knowing about the array of reliable, credible web-based health information resources, learning how to evaluate website credibility, and understanding how to find and apply professional research literature to their own practice.

The use of Audience Response Systems (ARS) or 'clickers' as an active learning strategy in nursing education has been steadily on the rise. ARS technology allows the dynamic engagement of students in the classroom by providing immediate two-way communication between faculty and students. ARS can be used to explore knowledge and common misconceptions, act as a springboard for classroom discussions, and can be used for testing or evaluation. The aim of this paper is to present best practice guidelines for both novice and experienced ARS technology users. A summary of the state of the research in this area will be presented. Practical application techniques and pedagological strategies relating to ARS use are discussed, including question construction. ARS technology can enliven teaching practice and allow students to become invested and engaged in the learning process.

Institutional ethnography can be viewed as a method of inquiry for nurse educators to build scholarship capacity and advance the quality of nursing practice. Within a framework of the Boyer (1990) model and the domains of academic scholarship in nursing described by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (2006), we discuss how a team of nurse educators participated as co-researchers in an institutional ethnographic study to examine the routine work of evaluating nursing students and discovered a contradiction between what was actually happening and what we value as nurse educators. The discovery, teaching, application, and integration dimensions of scholarship are examined for links to our emerging insights from the research and ramifications for our teaching practices. The article illuminates the expertise that developed and the transformations that happened as results of a collaborative institutional ethnography.

Healthcare leaders who develop a critical perspective of the relationship between culture and health; value respect for differences, inclusiveness, equity, and social justice; and use their power to enact these values in their spheres of influence, both professionally and personally, are better able to improve care for a diversity of clients. Graduate students can be assisted to develop such a critical perspective through a course designed as a journey of critical consciousness. We describe this journey that takes students through phases of awareness, reflection, and action in which they come to understand the concepts of critical theory and discourse analysis and begin to use these to create changes in their work settings in the direction of equity and social justice. We suggest broader implications for programs and invite readers to begin their own journeys of critical consciousness.

This phenomenological study explored role perceptions of senior baccalaureate nursing students in a traditional curriculum (TC) and a community-based curriculum (CBC) following one U.S. school’s curriculum revision. Researchers inquired into that moment when students intervened like a nurse. Results were analyzed by groups and then compared. The assumptions and style of the Dutch school of phenomenology guided the collection and analysis of data. Among identified themes were traditional nursing role functions. Students from the CBC perceived a comparatively broader scope for nursing practice, broader definition of client, and a more nuanced description of the nurse’s role. Seniors from the TC described a developmental trajectory which culminated in being able to intervene like a nurse. Responses from both participant groups confirm the importance of nurse-client and nurse-nurse proximities for the development of professional nursing in both structured and unstructured settings.

Clinical education is a cornerstone of undergraduate nursing education programs. Although protecting patient safety in clinical learning experiences is a standard of practice, no standard definition of the “unsafe” student exists. The purpose of this study was to describe the viewpoints of undergraduate student nurses and their clinical educators about unsafe clinical student practices. Using Q methodology, 57 students and 14 clinical educators sorted 39 unsafe student practice statements. These statements were generated from an integrated review of nursing and related literature and two undergraduate student focus groups. The use of centroid factor analysis with varimax rotation produced three dimensions of unsafe student practices. An unsafe student was characterized by his/her Compromised Professional Accountability, Incomplete Praxis, and Clinical Disengagement. A shared attribute among these three features was violated professional integrity. While students’ affective, cognitive, and praxis competencies were priority elements in the conceptualization of unsafe student practice, this study also identified the salient role of educators as active participants in preparation of safe practitioners.

In this article, authors report one College of Nursing’s efforts to address the challenges of multiple academic role expectations by establishing faculty interest groups to promote collaborative scholarship. The background of the project is described in terms of past and recent academic, financial, and environmental influences. Collaborative scholarship is defined. Literature related to faculty productivity, variations in collaborative scholarship within and across disciplines, and incentives to motivate and reward faculty productivity are discussed. An evaluation of one faculty interest group’s process is reported. Amey and Brown’s Interdisciplinary Collaboration Model dimensions were used to analyze achievements and challenges. Organizational restructuring and disbandment of these groups provided a second opportunity to reflect on lessons learned. One perspective about the process and educational and professional implications of collaborative scholarship that would be of interest to faculty is provided. Lessons learned may inform other faculty facing the same task.

Nurse preceptors fulfill a primary role in the success of preceptorship experiences during the education of student nurses in their final year of study. Evidence suggests that this success depends greatly on adequate preceptor role preparation and support. The purposes of this qualitative, descriptive study were to explore and describe preceptor role support and development within the context of a rural and northern mid-sized Canadian community. More specifically, in this study the following are described: preceptors’ (a) perception of past role preparation and current role support; (b) use and evaluation of the existing print-based fourth-year Preceptor Resource Manual (PRM); (c) perception of role support facilitators and barriers; and (d) recommendations for improvements to preceptor role preparation and support. Data were collected through individual and group interviews. Through content analysis four major themes emerged: accessible resources, role complexity, partners in precepting, and role development.

With changing trends in the acute pediatric setting, there is concern that nursing students are not provided with sufficient opportunities to develop required clinical competencies. Peer learning can assist students in achieving learning objectives through efficient and effective use of limited resources. In this study the perceptions of students and clinical instructors in their use of peer learning are described. A qualitative descriptive design with semi-structured interviews was used. A convenience sample included nursing students (n=10) and clinical instructors (n=2). Participants had overall positive experiences with formalized peer learning. The novelty of a learning approach, support, communication and the facilitation of learning were the common emerging main themes; with several subthemes also identified. The results highlighted how the learning process was influenced by the students’ status as novice nurses and how peer learning provided much needed emotional and physical support. Implications for clinical education are discussed.

This exploratory descriptive study of spiritual experiences, well-being, and practices was conducted among 126 nursing students. Participants reported a higher level of spiritual well-being and life scheme than self-efficacy for well-being and life-scheme. Thus, students appeared to view the world and their role in it slightly more positively than their ability to affect their lives and make decisions. The students reported the most frequent spiritual experiences as being thankful for blessings; the next most frequent spiritual experiences having a desire to be close to God, feeling a selfless caring for others, and finding comfort in one’s religion and spirituality. Students used both conventional and unconventional spiritual practices. Further study is necessary to study the relationship among spiritual practices, daily spiritual experiences, and spiritual well-being among nursing students and to evaluate these before and after implementation of specific educational offerings focused on spirituality and spiritual care in nursing.

The service learning model has been touted as a powerful pedagogical approach, a reasonable option for providing care to vulnerable and diverse populations, and a vehicle for educating nursing students to become agents of social change. The literature on service learning with vulnerable populations in nursing education is reviewed and synthesized in this article. A description of service learning experiences, identification of knowledge and skills learned, opportunities for critical thinking and reflection, and a discussion of factors that act as enablers and barriers to service learning are explored. Recommendations for successful integration of service learning into educational settings are provided for nurse educators, academic institutions and community partners. As the service learning model spreads across nursing education it is suggested that it offers promise to foster social change and produce graduates who are fully engaged citizens and professionals.

In this paper, we begin by providing an overview of the Educator Pathway Project (EPP), an education infrastructure that was developed in response to emerging critical nursing workplace issues, and the related demand for enhanced workplace education. We then describe the EPP competency-based curriculum designed to prepare nurses as preceptors, mentors, and educators to lead learning with diverse learner groups. This competency-based curriculum was developed through a collaboration of nurse leaders across practice, academic, and union sectors and drew from a widely embraced curriculum development model (Iwasiw, Goldenberg, & Andrusyzyn, 2005). The goal of the curriculum was to prepare nurses through a four-level career pathway model that contextualized practice and education theory to various education-related roles and levels of experience within the practice setting. Over 1,100 nurses participated in this innovative intersectoral nursing initiative.

Advances in computer technology, such as the portable and affordable iPodTM, allow students to view lectures anywhere at any time. iPodsTM are of special interest for nurse educators who strive to meet demands posed by a critical nursing shortage. A mixed-methods pilot study was conducted to assess whether iPodTM could be an effective teaching tool for medical-surgical nursing lectures. In a randomized study with 35 participants, together with eight students having their own iPodsTM, grades of students given pre-recorded class lectures on iPodsTM were compared with grades of those who attended lectures without iPodsTM. Learning styles, amount and use of students devoted to iPodTM lectures were considered as well as grades. Most results were not significant, but there was some evidence that the control groups who attended classroom lectures received better grades than iPodTM users, and individuals who used iPodTM more frequently before the final exam received lower grades. These somewhat surprising results suggest the need for further research in the use of this technology as a resource for nursing education delivery.

While global health practica are being increasingly described in nursing education literature, course evaluation of same receives comparatively less attention. In this article, authors report on an evaluation project, undertaken to rigorously examine the existing evaluation methods for an elective global health practicum with placements in India and northern Canada. Sixteen students were interviewed and course evaluation tools were reviewed. Resulting themes include students’ sense of preparedness, the centrality of the student-preceptor relationship, the importance of supported self-reflection, and the usefulness of evaluation methods. Participants viewed existing course evaluation methods as generally useful, therefore requiring only minor adjustments. There were also structural revisions to the preparation, placement, and post-placement phases of the course and broader lessons learned. Lessons include the importance of critical social perspectives and the value of past students revisiting their experiences in such a way as make conscious connections between placement experiences and their current professional practice.

This case study in collaboration development describes the relationship from initiation through maintenance over three years between a high profile research-focused school of nursing in the U.S. and a school in the UK known for learning and teaching innovation. The ultimate goal of the collaboration is to enhance nursing student learning opportunities to best prepare students to function in the complex and ever-changing world of nursing practice. This goal has been, and continues to be, achieved through implementation of innovative teaching and learning strategies including the use of high fidelity simulation. The authors describe the intellectual collaborative advantage that the relationship between the schools has made possible as well as key principles to be considered when any organization is contemplating a collaboration.