Study of Nursing Education

Approach

The nursing study consists of two research phases. The first phase consists of visits to nine schools of nursing, where the research team interviewed students, faculty, and administrators. They also observed teaching and learning in a variety of settings, including the classroom, simulation laboratories, clinical settings, and post-conferences.

The second phase of research includes a national survey of teachers and students, conducted in cooperation with the National League for Nursing (NLN), American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), and National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA).

Findings

A fundamental goal of this study is to understand how and where teachers might improve their practices. To this end, several excellent teachers were observed and interviewed in depth to determine their stance toward teaching and learning, their assumptions about students, and their goals for their students.

Several characteristics of excellent teachers of nursing have emerged from this research.

Excellent teachers:

• have a clear vision of what kind of nurse they would like to graduate


• place their students in a collaborative nursing role


• ask students to answer questions about what is at stake for the patient, what the patient is experiencing, and what the next step is for the patient


• highlight what is salient about a case or a situation and what is an appropriate response


• seamlessly integrate the three apprenticeships to teach how to be a nurse in terms of ethical comportment, knowledge of the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, and practice skills


• engage in dialogue with students to explore the student's thinking

Signature Pedagogies
The nursing team has identified a number of signature pedagogies to nursing, including:

• Coaching, where instructors draw out what the student knows in a bounded clinical situation


• Simulation, where students use cases, dummies to represent patients, or equipment common to particular clinical situation that allows them to practice certain skills over and over


• Role-modeling
• Post-conferences


• Pre-clinical preparation


• Post-clinical conferences


• Articulating experiential learning

Collaborating Organizations

The nursing team is collaborating with:

• American Nursing Association's Tri-Council of Professional Nurse Organizations


• American Organization of Nurse Executives
• National League for Nursing (NLN)


• NLN Accrediting Commission


• American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)


• AACN Accrediting Commission


• National Council of State Boards of Nursing
• National Student Nurses' Association