Katherine E. Nugent

Teacher self-efficacy in new nurse educators

The purpose of this study was to determine the variables that influence teacher self-efficacy in faculty with five or fewer years of teaching experience. Specifically, the relationship between formal educational courses and teacher self-efficacy in the teaching domains of course preparation, instructor behavior, evaluation and examination, and clinical teaching were examined. Findings showed that the 346 new nurse educators in this study had a strong sense of teacher self-efficacy. Results of multiple regression analysis indicated that formal education courses, teaching experience in nursing, and other teaching experience influenced the level of teacher self-efficacy. This study has implications for the mentoring of new faculty in the teaching role.

Teaching Caring Within the Context of Health

Changes in the delivery of healthcare have created an environment viewed as uncaring to both the patient and healthcare providers. Thus teaching concepts of health and caring becomes a priority for nurse educators. The authors discuss how caring can be taught in the context of health. Specifically, they describe a teaching method which was aimed at sensitizing students to Allens model of health and Watsons carative factors.

Schools with Nursing Centers: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study.

The article reviews the growing body of literature that examines academic nursing centers in the aggregate including the first such study conducted by the primary author 5 years earlier. A follow-up study to this original work was conducted to determine current demographics and faculty practice policies of schools or colleges of nursing that operate nursing centers and to compare these findings with those of schools without nursing centers. A survey was sent to the deans or directors of the 462 National League of Nursing (NLN)-accredited baccalaureate nursing programs. Although there were 362 respondents to the survey (78 per cent), only 41 indicated they had a nursing center. Schools with nursing centers were significantly more likely to be in public institutions (P = .05), and offer masters degrees (P = .01). They also were significantly larger (P = .01), with a mean of 34 full time-equivalent (FTE) faculty members. Then the administrative policies of schools with nursing centers (N = 41) were compared with those of schools without centers but with practicing faculty (N = 187). Requiring practice was not a common policy in either group. While about one-third of both groups had practice plans, the majority were described as informal. More schools with nursing centers had other formalized practice arrangements than did schools without centers (P = .01). Faculty practice was more likely to be a criterion for promotion (P = .05) but not for tenure in schools with nursing centers. An inverse relationship (P = .05) was found between the amount of practice revenue generated and the presence of a nursing center.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Facilitators and Inhibitors of Practice: A Faculty Perspective

Nurse educators are being encouraged to integrate the role of faculty practice into the role expectations of the educational institution. Schools of nursing are faced with the challenge of facilitating faculty who wish to adopt the practice role. There are limited studies documenting factors that facilitate or inhibit faculty who engage in practice. This article presents the findings of a Delphi procedure used to collect the consensus of practicing faculty concerning organizational and personal facilitators and inhibitors of faculty practice. In this study, 299 faculty representing 170 schools of nursing completed all three rounds of the Delphi. The findings present the top five factors identified by practicing faculty as personal and organizational facilitators and inhibitors of their practice.

Nursing faculty practice : an organizational perspective

After reviewing the faculty practice literature of the 1980s and finding philosophical support for practice but also growing concerns about faculty role overload, the authors report a study to identify organizational factors that influence the role expectations of faculty members about practice. A survey was sent to the deans or directors of all National League for Nursing--accredited baccalaureate nursing programs (n = 462). Of the 356 respondents (78 per cent), 224 (63.3 per cent) reported that their school had practicing faculty, but only 20 schools (8.8 per cent) required practice. Written faculty practice plans were reported by 23 schools (10.2 per cent), and nursing centers by 41 schools. Thirty-six respondents (16 per cent) reported that practicing faculty generated revenue for the school. Practice was required for promotion in 15.8 per cent and for tenure in 15.3 per cent of all schools surveyed. The study showed significant direct relationships between masters and doctoral programs and practicing faculty, but there was an inverse relationship between the presence of a health science center and schools with practicing faculty. Organizational factors relating to both the number and per cent of faculty who practiced included requiring practice, having a practice plan, and having practice as a criterion for promotion and for tenure. Revenue generation and presence of formalized practice arrangements were related to the number of faculty who practiced but not the per cent of the total faculty who practiced. The studys findings have implications for nursing education in designing organizational structures and rewards that support faculty practice.

Addressing the academic progression of students encountering mental health problems.

Contending with the academic progression of baccalaureate nursing students who are encountering mental health problems is not an easy task for educators. The authors have delineated a protocol of action for dealing with such problems and have applied the protocol to a hypothetical case study. Examples of related correspondence with the student are included.

Empowering Faculty Through Intrapreneurship: A Change Model

Institutions of nursing education are faced with socioeconomic issues that threaten to endanger the quality of education. Major issues such as budget cutbacks, changes in student populations, and decreasing numbers of professors mandate change if educational institutions are to survive. At the same time, health care reform provides nurse educators with an unprecedented opportunity to restructure curriculum. This article suggests that a method for meeting the challenge for educational reform while facing socioeconomic constraints is through intrapreneurship.

Differences of Patients and Caregivers in Determining Who Should be Involved in the Selection Of Venous Access Devices

Abstract The purposes of this study were to describe who should be involved in the vascular access device (VAD) decision-making process, according to patients and caregivers, and to describe ifthere were differences associated with persons involved in the selection of VADs according to race and gender. Convenience sample included 32 oncology out-patients and 10 caregivers from the southern United States. There were differences by race and sex in decision-making priorities of patients with vascular access devices indwelling; however, these were not statistically significant. Patients, physicians, and oncology nurses were viewed try both patients and caregivers as significant to the decision-making process. In contrast, caregivers were ranked as the least significant by both patients and caregivers. Females chose the physician as the primary decision-maker while males chose the patient as the primary decision-maker.