Valorie Dearmon

EVIDENCE-BASED NURSING EDUCATION: EFFECTIVE USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND SIMULATED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS TO ENHANCE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS

Much confidence has been placed in the nursing professions potential to positively impact the U.S. health care system. However, concerns about patient safety and quality beckon health care providers to reassess traditional practices. Professional nursing programs aim to prepare novice nurses with strong clinical skills to effectively and safely care for patients. Faculty shortages and fewer clinical sites for students present challenges to faculty. Limited exposure in the clinical practice setting hinders the development of intuition. In addition, new graduates often enter practice with an unclear understanding of their role at the bedside. Educators are challenged to find innovative teaching strategies to effectively prepare new graduates for entering the workforce. Simulation has been shown to be a valuable teaching-learning strategy. Using an instructional design model that is student centered as the basis for simulation activities in an undergraduate curriculum is one method to effectively provide much needed clinical experience in a safe learning environment. This article details the application of the ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation) model of instructional design to the use of simulation in nursing education in an effort to facilitate improved clinical performance in new graduate nurses.

Change can be good: unit perspectives on transforming care at the bedside.

Background:How do nurses commit to effecting change, the kind of change that will transform both care received and the caregiver? This was the mission of Transforming Care at the Bedside, the 2003 initiative sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute of Healthcare Improvement. Observations and Objectives:This analysis reflects processes and context of unit change through Transforming Care at the Bedside. Organizational leadership includes engagement in change. Subjects and Methods:Descriptions of change process were solicited from stakeholder interviews and focus groups to evaluate and make recommendations for the future. Results and Conclusions:Stakeholders recognized that “Change can be good!” Reflection and strategic evaluation strengthen planning for sustainability supporting staff engagement and transformational leadership in an academic health science setting.

Concept mapping a baccalaureate nursing program: a method for success.

The understanding of curricular design and development is paramount for faculty. For novice faculty, learning teaching methods commonly takes precedence over understanding curriculum development. Professional accrediting bodies of nursing programs require curriculum course content to be pertinent and flow logically. Baccalaureate nursing programs can choose to be accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The purpose of this article is to describe an educational innovation that one College of Nursing implemented to orient new faculty to the curriculum and prepare for an accreditation renewal. Assigned faculty developed and implemented a concept mapping process aimed to evaluate and revise course content based on national standards and guidelines. Undergraduate faculty understanding and ownership of the curriculum was evident throughout the process. The concept mapping process proved to be an innovative approach to enhance the curriculum and equip faculty with an understanding of the relationship between concepts and course content.

Mitigating the Impact of Nurse Manager Large Spans of Control

Nurse managers are instrumental in achievement of organizational and unit performance goals. Greater spans of control for managers are associated with decreased satisfaction and performance. An interprofessional team measured one organizations nurse manager span of control, providing administrative assistant support and transformational leadership development to nurse managers with the largest spans of control. Nurse manager satisfaction and transformational leadership competency significantly improved following the implementation of large span of control mitigation strategies.