A Journey From a Nurse to be an Educator
How
does one change or move from being a good nurse clinician to being a competent
nurse educator? Qualities that draw one into nursing are also essential to
nursing education. The term nursing, which comes from the Latin term “ nutricus
”, means to nourish. Just as nurses nourish, support, and care for their
patients, nurse educators nourish, support, and care for their students.
Educators serve as role models of caring in our interactions with both students
and patients. Caring can be role modeled and shared by setting up partnerships
for the purpose of promoting nursing education. Partnering with peers and
faculty on this journey transitioning from clinician to educator can lay the
foundation for success. Other qualities that are similar to both educators and
clinicians are listed in.
What
Clinicians Bring to the Educator’s Table
Considering
the knowledge that a clinician has within the three domains of learning will
help novice educators appreciate the skills clinicians bring to the profession.
According to Bloom, Hastings, and Madeus (1971), the three domains of learning
include: cognitive-knowledge, affective-feelings or attitude, and
psychomotor-physical skills.
Learning in the cognitive domain occurs when there
is a change in knowledge and intellectual skill development. The intellectual
skill development encompasses Bloom’s taxonomy of increasing levels of
intellectual skill including: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis,
synthesis, and evaluation.
Learning in the affective domain occurs when there
is a change in attitude or feelings; the recipient receives the phenomena,
responds to the phenomena, values, organizes, and internalizes values, thus
changing attitude.
Learning in the psychomotor domain includes stages from
perception of sensory cues of activity to be learned, through origination, in
which the learner is able to create new patterns in response to different
situations for the activity. Previous learning related to nursing practice in
these three domains will facilitate the transition from practitioner to
educator in the following ways. Clinicians have a solid knowledge base.
Characteristics and Qualities Found Common to Both Educators and Clinicians
- Quality
assurance for their outcomes - Accountability for their responsibilities
- Dedication to their tasks
- Good
interpersonal skills and communication skills - Professional
affinity and broad acceptance level - Accountability
for practice and academic progress - Bound
by professional regulations and organization - Adherence
to safety and security of resources - Quality
care and education - People
professions
Desire
to help others should be core principle and
a variety of experiences that give them a broader picture of a concept than
that described in a nursing text. The novice educator brings this clinical
knowledge to the educational setting. Telling narrative accounts of experiences
is a particularly helpful teaching strategy (Lovin, 1992; Mattingly, 1991;
Sparks-Langer & Colton, 1991).
Narratives provide a forum for learning in
both the cognitive and affective domains as the narrator describes an
experience, dilemma, feelings, values, and attitudes. The description of the
patient, assessment findings, and pathophysiology provide the cognitive
learning whereas articulation of feelings and/or attitudes experienced by the
nurse provides for learning in the affective domain.
Equally important,
educators can use their narratives to develop case studies or problem-based
learning assignments to promote active learning for their students. Moreover,
clinicians’ experience performing actual nursing skills is essential for
teaching the foundations of nursing practice.
Most nurses have learned a few
helpful strategies not found in the nursing literature. It is only through
hands-on practice that one truly learns the psychomotor skills necessary in
nursing.Simple tricks like stretching a transparent occlusive dressing to
break the adhesive fibers to ease removal of the dressing can only be learned
by doing.
In other words, reading the performance steps in a procedure manual
or text involves the ability to perceive the information, but the actual
mechanism of the action and complex overt response, also known as skillful
performance, does not occur until one has carried out the procedure enough
times for the skill to be achieved.
Although clinical experience will help
facilitate the transition from clinician to educator, experience alone does not
ensure learning ( Brehmer , 1980; Sheckley & Keeton, 1997). A critical
analysis of one’s experience is essential before passing one’s tips along to
students. Critical analysis includes reflecting on one’s experience and noting
where and when the lived experience matches the theoretical, research findings.
Nurse educators must be aware of the need to teach evidence-based practice.
Learn to ask questions such as, Why does this work? Is this more effective than
what’s currently in print? If so, why is it more effective? Recognizing and
using clinical talents in the educational setting is accomplished best in a
supportive environment.
Setting up partnerships, whether they are peer
partners, preceptor student partners, or teacher-student partnerships, can
facilitate role transition from clinician to nurse educator.
Cognitive
Apprenticeship and Partnerships Ease Transition from Novice to Expert,
Clinician to Educator
In
academia, we have been socialized under a hierarchical structure using the work
of cognitive developmental theorists like Perry (1981) and King and Kitchener
(1994) who describe a linear or categorical model of development as individuals
progress from one level of thinking to the next .
The concept of connected
relationships is linked to Riane Eisler’s (1987) work on partnerships, in which
she first described the “partnership way.” In her work, she envisioned a
society where mutual respect and trust, a low degree of fear and social
violence, and an equal valuation of men and women are the norm. “The
partnership way” offers a power-with rather than a power- over relationship
between teachers and students, among peers and colleagues.
Kathleen Heinrich
and others (Heinrich et al., 2005) described how nursing education can be
transformed through partnerships. A “How can I help you? How can you help
me?” way of thinking can benefit both partners while promoting scholarship
for both students and faculty. Rather than going it alone, graduate nursing.
students should develop partnerships with peers and teachers as they seek to
advance in their nursing career.
Sharing one’s gifts and talents with others
provides an opportunity for both individuals to grow. Several nurse educators
(Heinrich & Scherr, 1994; Jacobi, 1991; Krawczyk, 1978; Paterson, 1998)
have recognized the power of partnerships and peer-mentoring activities not just
as a strategy for learning but also as a way to invigorate the profession and
“promote reciprocal learning” (Eisen, 2001, p. 30) between professionals.