Faculty's Perception on Student Performance using vSim for Nursing® as a Teaching Strategy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, clinical nurse educators within pre-licensure baccalaureate educational programs had to quickly adapt to new ways of teaching. Hospital-based clinicals no longer permitted students to attend and some schools of nursing (SON) transitioned to virtual simulation learning environments. These alternative learning strategies were imperative for students continued progression. The first purpose of this pilot study explored nursing faculty's perceived effectiveness of using vSim for Nursing® to replace clinical practice. A second purpose examined the effectiveness of faculty preparation. Effectiveness was evaluated using an adapted version of the Simulation Effectiveness Tool - Modified (SET-M). Mean scores indicated that faculty strongly agreed on its effectiveness for students' learning, with all items ranging 57.9%-97.4%. Majority of faculty strongly agreed that their preparation was highly effective, ranging 86.8%-97.4%. Faculty perceived vSim for Nursing® to be an effective tool for replacement of clinical practice and felt prepared to meet the students' learning outcomes. Evidence to support the effectiveness of vSim is needed so faculty can make data driven decisions to support student success in clinical practice. Debriefing continues to be a prominent component to any form of simulation. Supporting and preparing faculty to meet students' competencies further ensures successful transition as a professional.

Student's Perception of vSim for Nursing® using the Simulation Effectiveness Tool-Modified.

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our nursing program utilized virtual simulation learning experiences to replace clinical hours. This pilot project used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to explore undergraduate pre-licensure (n = 99) and accelerated second-degree students (n = 19) student's perceived effectiveness of using vSim for Nursing® as a clinical replacement with a second aim that explored their preparedness for the virtual simulation experience. Method: Efficacy was evaluated using the Simulation Effectiveness Tool-Modified (SET-M). Results: Mean scores indicated that students strongly agreed on the efficacy of vSim for learning, with all items ranging from 50% to 79.7%. Majority of students strongly agreed that their preparation was highly effective, ranging 67.8% to 77.1%. Qualitative findings from the open-ended feedback supports findings to the effectiveness of virtual simulation, with one of the major themes that emerged was the presence of the clinical nurse educator. Conclusion: Students perceived vSim for Nursing® to be an effective tool for clinical practice replacement and felt prepared to meet the learning outcomes. Debriefing remains an essential component to any mode of simulation.

Using Simulation to Enhance Global Nursing.

In light of the technological, social, and political changes taking place in the world today, it is important that nurses are not just culturally competent but globally informed and engaged. The goal of this paper is to help nurses help their patients and themselves to benefit from globalization. The use of guided simulation, virtual reality, and augmented reality learning experiences is considered for each of five areas of global nursing; global aesthetics, global intelligence, global ethics, global politics, and global health. This approach invites nurses and student nurses to discern new patterns, take charge of their learning, and build multiple iterations to facilitate the processing of new and different information and "realities."

Holistic Nursing in the Genetic/Genomic Era.

Holistic nursing practice is an ever-evolving transformative process with core values that require continued growth, professional leadership, and advocacy. Holistic nurses are required to stay current with all new required competencies, such as the Core Competencies in Genetics for Health Professional, and, as such, be adept at translating scientific evidence relating to genetics/genomics in the clinical setting. Knowledge of genetics/genomics in relation to nursing practice, policy, utilization, and research influence nurses' responsibilities. In addition to holistic nursing competencies, the holistic nurse must have basic knowledge and skills to integrate genetics/genomics aspects. It is important for holistic nurses to enhance their overall knowledge foundation, skills, and attitudes about genetics to prepare for the transformation in health care that is already underway. Holistic nurses can provide an important perspective to the application of genetics and genomics, focusing on health promotion, caring, and understanding the relationship between caring and families, community, and society. Yet there may be a lack of genetic and genomic knowledge to fully participate in the current genomic era. This article will explore the required core competencies for all health care professionals, share linkage of holistic nurses in practice with genetic/genomic conditions, and provide resources to further one's knowledge base.

The beauty of metaphors.

Metaphors are a way of describing an experience or a perceived notion as a personal expression of thought. The metaphoric understanding of what practicing as a holistic nurse means is discussed with reference to the personal, emotional, and spiritual components of being a holistic nurse.

Creative power of metaphorical expression.

Gathering metaphors of holistic nurses provides for an exploration of how that metaphor is captured in real-life experiences. Metaphors are a way of describing an experience or a perceived notion as a personal expression of thought. The metaphoric understanding of what practicing as a holistic nurse means is discussed with reference to the personal, emotional, and spiritual component of being a holistic nurse. Capturing the superfluity and vividness of these beautiful expressions embedded in participants' metaphors produced insight and a deeper apprehension of the connectedness in nursing. This study used a qualitative exploratory approach to collect data from 75 holistic nurses. Data were collected using participants' own expression of the metaphor of holistic nursing and correlating critical incident reports of how that metaphor was expressed in practice. Metaphors were not analyzed but correlated by themes. The critical incident reports were analyzed to uncover and isolate key aspects of commonalities. The results capture the abundance and diversity of metaphorical expressions embedded in participants' metaphors produced insight and a deeper appreciation of the connectedness in nursing.

Herbal remedies, mood, and cognition.

Herbal medicines were the "sole" source of medicine for thousands of years, in every culture since the advent of human civilization. Today, patients are increasing the use of these botanicals for numerous conditions, such as mood and cognition. This article will explore commonly used herbal remedies for mood and cognition functioning. It is imperative that nurses and nurse practitioners obtain expertise with these botanicals with regard to efficacy, adverse effects and contraindications, possible drug interactions, and safety considerations.

Integrating YouTube into the nursing curriculum.

Nurse educators need to be innovative, stimulating, and engaging as they teach future nursing professionals. The use of YouTube in nursing education classes provides an easy, innovative, and user-friendly way to engage today's nursing students. YouTube presentations can be easily adapted into nursing courses at any level, be it a fundamentals course for undergraduate students or a theoretical foundations course for graduate students. In this article I will provide information to help educators effectively integrate YouTube into their course offerings. I will start by reviewing the phenomenon of social networking. Next I will discuss challenges and strategies related to YouTube learning experiences, after which I will share some of the legal considerations in using YouTube. I will conclude by describing how to engage students via YouTube and current research related to YouTube.

A transdisciplinary approach to faculty development in nursing education technology.

The purpose of this article is to describe the creation of a transdisciplinary group, consisting of nurse educators, a medical librarian, lab technologists, and a technology expert. to lead the integration of electronic health technology, including high-fidelity simulation, handheld technology, and electronic health records, within a school of nursing. The use of innovative educational tools by nursing faculty can be daunting because of the steep learning curve. The model described here is effective in developing faculty to use simulation and other technologies as teaching-learning strategies.

Expressiveness and creativeness: metaphorical images of nursing.

Metaphors are a personal expression and form of self-awareness, providing a way of describing an experience with dissimilar concepts to convey meaning. Metaphors create new meaning and provide a deeper insight into the human spirit. They are grounded in reality and day-to-day life experiences. Reflective practitioners incorporate and integrate their vast knowledge base of experience, skills, and attitudes to assist in formulating their practice as a metaphor. It is through this experience and reflection that nurses can creatively express their images of self and nursing.

The power of metaphors: images of holistic nurses.

Metaphors are individualized representations of self as well as a vivid, expressive, everyday dialogical format. Holistic nursing is a personal philosophy that includes participating in the healing-caring process of self and others. Exploring metaphors of nurses offers a unique opportunity of understanding how they describe, prioritize, and internalize their practice. The aim of this article is to present metaphors of holistic nurses.

Exploring nurses' perceived benefits of utilizing holistic modalities for self and clients.

The purpose of this study was to describe the experience that holistic nurses have in incorporating complementary and alternative modalities in the care of their clients, as well as gain a deeper understanding of holistic nurses and the perceived benefit of utilizing a holistic modality with their clients and themselves concurrently as providers of these modalities. Purposeful samplings of holistic nurses' who include modalities in their healing process were the participants in this exploratory research, which entailed data collection through the use of critical incident reports and open-ended interviews.

Critical incident technique utilization in research on holistic nurses.

This article describes the critical incident technique (CIT) as it informs holistic nursing. The CIT is a qualitative, systematic, open-ended technique for educing descriptive data from participants. It is an effective naturalistic tool for focusing participants on a specific event. The CIT is a user-friendly instrument that can foster reflection and promote personal expression. Holistic nursing is a personal and professional commitment to the healing process of self and others. The competency of holistic nurses revolves around their ability to incorporate the concepts and standards of the philosophy of holistic nursing into their life and practice. This article explores the use of the CIT in 2 separate studies on holistic nurses. Both studies utilized the CIT as a secondary source of data collection. All participants in both studies were members of the American Holistic Nurses Association. One study explored how experienced certified holistic nurses learned to become competent practitioners, while the other study focused on holistic nurses' experience with modalities, the perceived benefits to self and client.

A qualitative study of how experienced certified holistic nurses learn to become competent practitioners.

PURPOSE: Artistry of holistic nursing requires practitioners to be equipped with the ability to integrate and assimilate knowledge and experience. This integrated wisdom is woven into proficiency and expertise, thus allowing for the transition to an experienced competent health care provider who can meet the complex mélange of practice. This qualitative naturalistic study was designed to explore how 10 experienced certified holistic nurses (HNCs) learned to become competent holistic nurses. METHOD: In-depth interviews of 10 HNCs, critical incident reports, and a summative focus group. FINDINGS: (a) Disjuncture existed between the structure of traditional nursing and the need of nurses for continued personal and professional growth and development; (b) need for credibility was key to nurses becoming competent holistic nurses; (c) use of informal learning strategies to help them achieve competency; and (d) overcoming challenges emanating from the traditional system as they transitioned to becoming holistic nurses.

The holistic nurse's search for credibility.

This article, part of a larger qualitative naturalistic study, examined what motivates professional RNs to become certified holistic nurses and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes holistic nurses perceive they need to become competent practitioners. Two key findings were (1) disjuncture between the traditional nursing structure and the nurses' own personal and professional growth and development and (2) the need for credibility. For these participants, obtaining the HNC credential conveyed credibility and legitimacy.