Fostering Nursing Students' Growth in Patient Teaching and Empathy Toward Homeless People.

ABSTRACT: Helping nursing students explore personal perceptions toward the poor can support students' ability to care for impoverished people in their later nursing practice. A community-based mental health clinical site at a transitional housing complex for the homeless provided a meaningful experience for accelerated baccalaureate nursing students. Students offered basic health screening to the low-income residents and participated in a virtual health education question-and-answer meeting with former transitional housing residents. Through reflective journaling, students described how they gained empathy and new understanding of the needs of people living in poverty or unhoused, and developed confidence in patient teaching.

"Looks Can be Deceiving": An Innovative Way to Teach Nursing Students about Substance Use Disorder.

Information about substance use disorders (SUDs) is commonly taught in pre-licensure nursing programs. Nurses, regardless of their work settings, undoubtedly will encounter clients who deal with SUDs, and therefore it is imperative that nurse educators prepare their students for the care of these clients. But what if the person experiencing SUDs is not a client, but a colleague? This manuscript describes an innovative approach to teaching about SUDs to a class of Bachelor of Science in Nursing students that utilized a guest speaker who was a nurse in recovery from addiction. Student reflections showed that the learning activity increased their knowledge of addiction, as well as helping them to examine their own biases about people with addiction. This teaching strategy could be replicated by other nurse educators to ensure that future nurses are prepared to work alongside a colleague experiencing SUDs.

Innovations in Learning: The Professional Nursing Project.

ABSTRACT: Because of a dearth of available resources, faculty faced with creating a Foundations of Nursing course aligned with the revised American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials for a new accelerated baccalaureate program struggled to design an innovative way to integrate concepts that demonstrate the role of the professional nurse. With the help of a colleague from the Communications Department, an innovative assignment was developed that engaged students throughout the semester. The assignment created a foundation for students' practice as professional nurses.

"Looking for a unicorn": The challenges of studying African American men enrolled in pre-licensure nursing programs.

The purpose of this article is to relay the results of research study about the perceived challenges and successes of African American men in pre-licensure nursing programs, while describing the lessons learned when trying to research an underrepresented population in nursing education. Methodological flaws, poor return rates, and an overall lack of support led to findings which were not usable for the research topic, but might be usable to others interested in nursing education research. The research process highlights the continual struggle that nursing education has with creating and disseminating evidence to help faculty diversify the student body in nursing programs.

What It's Like to be Poor: Teaching RN-to-BSN StudentsAbout Poverty.

Because simulation in nursing school is used to allow nursing students a safe place to practice skills, it may not be widely used with RN-to-BSN students who are already registered nurses but are returning to school to earn their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees. But what if the simulation was presented differently, and the students were not the practitioners, but the recipients of services? RN-to-BSN students in a combined face-to-face and online program at a public research university in the Southeastern United States participated in a Community Action Poverty Simulation to better understand what people in poverty go through on a daily basis, hopefully helping these practicing nurses see beyond the bedside when providing patient care. This article describes the use of simulation with RN-to-BSN students to experientially introduce them to the concepts of poverty, social determinants of health, and vulnerable populations.

Changing Practice Through Meaningful Assignments: Ideas for Supporting RN-BSN Students.

Although nurses entering RN-BSN programs often perceive that earning the BSN will be of little benefit, upon completion, they do believe they have made professional gains, demonstrating that they have experienced a change in perspective. Mezirow's theory of perspective transformation can guide educators to develop learning activities that allow RN-BSN students to find meaning in the BSN degree while enrolled in a program, rather than after the program has been completed. Examples of learning activities and student reflections are provided.

Creating a Gerontological Nursing Digital Repository Within a Learning Management System.

BACKGROUND: Faculty who teach gerontological nursing are challenged to deliver competency-based baccalaureate nursing education. Because our courses are divided into multiple sections and taught by a variety of faculty, the need for a peer-reviewed, curated repository of gerontological learning materials was conceived. METHOD: Syllabi for prelicensure and RN-to-baccalaureate nursing (BSN) degree gerontological courses were reviewed. Stufflebeam's Content, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) model of program evaluation provided a framework to guide the process of identifying existing resources and gaps in eLearning materials. Using the Learning Object Review Instrument, faculty determined the relevance and applicability of eLearning materials. RESULTS: A crosswalk between the syllabi and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing-recommended geriatric nursing competencies was completed to evaluate eLearning materials identified as valuable. Consensus was reached, and content was placed in the learning management system. CONCLUSION: This project can serve as a model for other course faculty and faculty in other specialty areas to enhance the curriculum by providing readily available, multifaceted instructional resources. [J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(10):607-610.].

RN-to-BSN Students' Quality Improvement Knowledge, Skills, Confidence, and Systems Thinking.

BACKGROUND: Little evidence demonstrates that RN-to-baccalaureate nursing (BSN) graduates have met The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice-specifically, evidence of the graduates' organizational and systems leadership related to quality care and patient safety. This BSN Essentials reflects the QSEN quality improvement (QI) competency. The purpose of this pilot study was to develop and test an assessment strategy to measure RN-to BSN students' QI competence and their perception of QI knowledge and skills. METHOD: Students (N = 59) from six RN-to-BSN programs participated in a Qualtrics survey e-mailed during the last semester of their program. RESULTS: The majority of students (60%) reported that they did not experience QI content in their program. Scores on QI knowledge, skills, and systems thinking were low, yet the students self-reported that they were confident in their ability to perform QI. CONCLUSION: This pilot study provides an assessment strategy to measure students' competence related to QI. Nursing education has an opportunity to integrate and measure QI competence to ensure that nurses have the knowledge and skills to continually improve patient care. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(12):737-740.].

Integrating Gerontology and Community Concepts Through Simulation.

This article describes an innovative simulation experience for nursing students. Faculty from a community health nursing course and a course in gerontology worked together to provide a comprehensive simulation experience that combined low-fidelity and high-fidelity experiences that provided an integrated learning experience and gave faculty with an opportunity to collaborate to improve outcomes. Student and faculty feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Future plans include incorporating a third didactic course, Leadership and Management, and working with other disciplines to demonstrate interprofessional collaboration.

Who Will Help My Son?: A Family's Journey with Dyslexia.

It may seem unusual for a nurse to intervene and assist a child with a learning disability, but a mental health nurse who knows the warning signs of dyslexia is able to help families who are going through a difficult time. The current article details the author's experience regarding her son's dyslexia diagnosis. For her family, a nurse was a valuable resource. The impact the struggle had not only on her son, but also her family, and the changes brought about by getting a diagnosis and treatment, demonstrate the impact that nurses can have when family-focused care is provided. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 55(8), 27-30.].

An unlikely advocate: the role of the school nurse with children who have dyslexia.

School nurses are often the first line of advocacy for children when problems arise. One common learning disability, dyslexia, requires advocacy from the school nurse. However, due to lack of knowledge, misunderstandings, and misconceptions about the disorder, the school nurse may feel inadequate in an advocacy role. This article describes dyslexia, including warning signs, so that school nurses can be better prepared to assess for signs, provide intervention, and advocate for struggling children and families.

Outsiders in nursing education: cultural sensitivity in clinical education.

Cultural competence is a stated value of nursing and nursing education. However, some institutional and traditional practices in nursing education can unintentionally impede nurses from achieving cultural competence. Both the literature and interviews with nurse educators show that despite educators' intentions to treat all students the same, nontraditional students may feel singled out and may in fact be singled out for closer scrutiny because of their difference from the demographic norms of nursing students. To ensure that the nursing profession reflects the composition of the patient population it serves, nurse educators must first acknowledge the Eurocentric culture of nursing education and, then, work to change the environment in which students are recruited, learn, and take on the role of beginning practicing nurses.

To pass or to fail? Understanding the factors considered by faculty in the clinical evaluation of nursing students.

Making the decision to pass or to fail a nursing student is difficult for nurse educators, yet one that all educators face at some point in time. To make this decision, nurse educators draw from their past experiences and personal reflections on the situation. Using the qualitative method of critical incident technique, the authors asked educators to describe a time when they had to make a decision about whether to pass or fail a student in the clinical setting. The findings describe student and faculty factors important in clinical evaluation decisions, demonstrate the benefits of reflective practice to nurse educators, and support the utility of critical incident technique not only as research methodology, but also as a technique for reflective practice.

Successful and unsuccessful clinical nursing students.

This study describes the characteristics of successful and unsuccessful clinical performance in prelicensure nursing students. Clinical evaluation is an important role of nurse educators; however, many feel uncomfortable with its subjective nature, and commonly used criteria for successful and unsuccessful clinical performance are not available in the literature. Using a qualitative descriptive design, we analyzed telephone interviews with 24 nurse educators. Educators indicated successful students were positive and eager to learn, built relationships, communicated well, think critically, prepared for the clinical experience and showed progress, accepted feedback, and adapted to the clinical setting. Unsuccessful students were unprepared for the clinical experience, were unable to function in the clinical area, were unsafe, violated legal-ethical principles, and had difficulty with communication skills. Specific characteristics differentiated students who are considered satisfactory in the clinical area and those who are not. These behaviors may identify students at risk of failure in clinical courses.