Nursing Education and Preparing Faculty Teaching, Students for Patient Care & Assignments In Clinical Teaching Environment
Preparing Faculty for Clinical Teaching In Nursing Education, Preparing Students for Patient Care In Nursing Education, Patient Care Assignments In Nursing Education.
Preparing Faculty for Clinical Teaching In Nursing Education
The preparation and development of faculty
for clinical teaching are not as widely discussed and documented as the
preparation of students for clinical learning. Studies indicate that the
exposure of faculty to evidence-based teaching strategies and learning theory
is minimal (Dahlke et al., 2012; McNelis et al., 2014).
Krautscheid, Kaakinen,
and Warner (2008) directed efforts to facilitate a reversal in this trend. A
clinical faculty development program, developed to help faculty practice
teaching by analogy and reflect on clinical teaching, was implemented. With
this program, clinical teaching simulations were used to allow faculty to
practice, teach, and receive immediate feedback. Scenarios were used to
facilitate the process.
As a result of the clinical teaching simulations,
faculty reported being more reflective as teachers and practitioners and
identified the importance of facilitating a safe learning environment in the
clinical practice setting. Expert clinicians often have a desire to teach in the
practicum area. Providing the faculty development needs of expert clinicians
can be challenging.
It can be very difficult to equip clinicians with teaching
skills required to be an effective clinical teacher for those faculty who also
maintain full-time clinical practices. Some have been preceptors and to fully
attain the skills needed to make the transition to a new role as clinical
teachers, further instruction, coaching, and guidance is required.
These
individuals should be encouraged and provided with information about where and
how they can engage in activities that will facilitate their acquisition of the
knowledge and skills required for the clinical teaching role. Some schools have
developed modules for that purpose.
One method for meeting the challenge of
educating clinical teachers is to use an online course to orient clinicians who
are making the transition from the role of expert clinician to that of clinical
teacher (Reid, Hinderer, Jarosinski, Mister, & Seldomridge, 2013).
Essential topics include teaching–learning theory, critical thinking, how to
deal with challenging students, and making patient assignments.
Because being
an excellent clinical nurse does not mean that the nurse will be an excellent
teacher, Cangelosi, Crocker, and Sorrell (2009) developed a Clinical Nurse
Educator Academy to prepare clinicians for clinical teaching.
After analyzing
reflective papers at the end of the academy, the authors found that the nurses
were enthusiastic about the educator role, but that the frustration from lack
of mentoring indicates a need for ongoing development of the educator role.
In
summary, effective clinical teachers are knowledgeable and know how to convey
concepts to students in effective ways, are clinically competent, coach
students to develop clinical reasoning and judgment, exhibit interpersonal
skills that positively influence students’ learning, and establish collegial
relationships that often last well beyond a specific course or program.
Clinical faculty also need to be oriented to and developed for the role.
Research is likely to continue in this area.
Preparing Students for Patient Care In Nursing Education
Teaching for patient care should involve
orderly and logical actions taken to accomplish particular educational goals.
The actual selection and use of a particular strategy should be based on
expected outcomes, principles of learning, and learner needs.
This section
focuses on several strategies commonly used in clinical teaching: patient care
assignments, clinical conferences, nursing rounds, and written assignments.
Students come to the health care environment not really understanding the
culture of confidentiality.
It is imperative that students know and understand
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) privacy
and security regulations. It is the role of faculty to instruct students on the
need to implement the HIPAA rules and regulations in all patient encounters.
They are designed to protect the patient’s right to privacy. Students should be
informed of what they can and cannot do in relation to confidentiality, and
these instructions must be enforced.
Patient Care Assignments In Nursing Education
Patient care provides students with
opportunities to integrate, synthesize, and use previously learned knowledge
and skills. Some nursing courses require students to prepare in advance for
their clinical experience.
Advance preparation commences with making clinical
assignments, which may be the responsibility of the clinical teacher, the
teacher and student together (especially useful for beginning students), the
student alone, the student with guidance from the teacher, or the nursing and
health care staff or preceptors.
Allowing students some input into selecting
clinical assignments encourages them to be self-directed as well as to choose
experience on the basis of their personal learning needs. Refer to Box 17-3 for
other suggestions for making assignments. The selection of clinical assignments by
students in collaboration with others has several benefits.
It provides
opportunities for students to select experiences that are based on personal
learning needs, to experience a degree of control over their education, and to
interact with practicing professionals during the process of selecting
experiences.
The extent to which students are permitted to self-select
experiences depends on the goals or expected outcomes of the program, the
philosophy of the specific clinical teacher, and the availability of resources
in the clinical environment to assist students (i.e., to answer questions and
provide guidance in patient selection).
Involvement of the clinical faculty is
important when students select their experiences. For example, faculty serve as
resource advisers and sources of emotional support, communicate goals and
intended outcomes, assist students in assessing the congruency between personal
learning needs and course objectives, facilitate planning the experiences,
collaborate with students as they strive to meet goals, and evaluate
accomplishments.
Making clinical assignments can be a challenge for clinical
faculty. Novice faculty are often at a loss in terms of knowing where to begin.
This is where mentoring by senior level or expert faculty is helpful.