Teaching nursing within a population health context: From concept to exemplars.

As researchers in the health sciences improve their understanding of the underlying causes of poor health to include non-medical factors, nursing practice must expand and adapt to enable nurses to effectively contribute to population health improvement. The concept of population health has been incorporated into the current American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education (2021) as a set of competencies for nurses at entry and advanced levels. This article provides a description of these competencies, and exemplars of how to include them meaningfully in nursing curricula at the entry level.

Supporting racial, ethnic minority, and disadvantaged undergraduate nursing students with honors projects.

BACKGROUND: Underrepresented racial and ethnic minority (UREM) and disadvantaged background (DB) students often feel a lack of belonging and community in higher education. Participation in Honors Programs has been shown to build a sense of belonging and community associated with short and long-term benefits for both students and their academic institutions. PURPOSE: To describe the program we implemented (the MM program) to increase UREM and DB student representation in a SON Honors Program. METHOD: A prospective, descriptive study of SON UREM and DB honors students with a May graduation date of 2017-2020. RESULTS: A total of 129 students completed honors with 23 MM UREM and DB students completing honors. Seven received highest honors award distinction that exemplifies exceptional work at a level beyond usually high expectations. CONCLUSIONS: A supportive environment for UREM and DB students with resources are essential for students to consider and also complete an honors project.

The Impact of Caring: Teaching Students Empathy Through the Patient Voice.

The purpose of this educational brief is to describe an innovative learning experience focused on teaching students empathy for chronic illness, using patient voices. Panel members of individuals who had experienced acute and chronic illness from either the perspective of the patient or caregiver participated in a one-time session for undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students. Panel members presented their narrative to the students, engaging them in a question-and-answer session about the impact of nursing care on their experience. Both the panelists and the students found the experience meaningful. Over time the panel has varied in format, but has consistently humanized the patient experience, highlighted the importance of empathy, and conveyed the impact that nurses have on their patients and families. This innovative strategy proved to be very beneficial for students transitioning into their first clinical experience.

Bridging the Gender Divide: Facilitating the Educational Path for Men in Nursing.

BACKGROUND: Although the number of men entering the nursing profession over the past century has increased incrementally, the proportion of men remains low in contrast to the U.S. POPULATION: On matriculation into nursing school, men face stereotypes about the nursing profession and the characteristics of the men who enter it. Men may also face a number of gender-based barriers, including lack of history about men in nursing, lack of role models, role strain, gender discrimination, and isolation. METHOD: This article describes each of these barriers and provides strategies to improve male students' learning experience. RESULTS: The efforts of one nursing school to address many of these barriers are also described. CONCLUSION: Through acknowledging gender barriers and taking intentional steps to address them with prenursing and nursing students, schools of nursing may create a more inclusive environment and enhance the profession's diversity. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(5):295-299.].

Dedicated Education Unit Model for a Transition Into Practice Course.

A dedicated education unit (DEU) model involves a collaborative partnership between a clinical agency and a school of nursing. This article describes the development of a DEU for a transition to practice course. No differences were noted in the satisfaction of students, staff nurses, and the clinical agency between the DEU and traditional preceptor models, but the DEU design enabled the school of nursing to place more students in the unit, compared with a preceptorship model.

Concurrent validation of CHIRP, a new instrument for measuring healthcare student attitudes towards interdisciplinary teamwork.

Positive attitudes towards teamwork among health care professionals are critical to patient safety. The purpose of this study is to describe the development and concurrent validation of a new instrument to measure attitudes towards healthcare teamwork that is generalizable across various populations of healthcare students. The Collaborative Healthcare Interdisciplinary Planning (CHIRP) scale was validated against the Readiness for Inter-Professional Learning Scale (RIPLS). Analyses included student (n = 266) demographics, ANOVA, internal consistency, factor analysis, and Rasch analysis. The two instruments correlated at r = .582. The CHIRP showed a multifactorial structure having excellent internal consistency (alpha = .850), with 25 of the 36 scale items loading onto a single Teamwork Attitudes factor. The RIPLS likewise had strong internal consistency (alpha = .796) and a three-factor structure, supporting previous studies of the instrument. However, Rasch analyses showed 14 (38.9%) of the 36 CHIRP items, but only four (21.1%) of the 19 RIPLS items remaining within the satisfactory standardized OUTFIT zone of 2.0 standard deviation units. We propose the 14 fitting items as a new, validated teamwork attitudes scale.

Performance, satisfaction, and transition into practice of graduates of accelerated nursing programs.

This study examined differences in performance, job satisfaction, and transition into the professional role of new graduates of accelerated nursing programs compared with graduates of other types of prelicensure programs. The setting was a major medical center in the Southeast. The mean ratings for graduates' self-assessment of performance improved significantly from the beginning of their orientation to Year 1, except for competencies in research. There were no differences between accelerated and traditional baccalaureate program graduates.

Managers' perspectives of new graduates of accelerated nursing programs: how do they compare with other graduates?

Nurse managers in focus groups reported that new graduates of all types of prelicensure programs were not prepared clinically for beginning practice. Graduates of accelerated programs had similar knowledge and skills as other new nurses but also brought work experience and maturity to the clinical setting, which fostered their transition to the nursing role. Nurse managers reported generational differences among graduates beyond their educational preparation and explained how those differences affected their learning of new technologies. Educational implications are discussed.

Teamwork training with nursing and medical students: does the method matter? Results of an interinstitutional, interdisciplinary collaboration.

OBJECTIVES: The authors conducted a randomised controlled trial of four pedagogical methods commonly used to deliver teamwork training and measured the effects of each method on the acquisition of student teamwork knowledge, skills, and attitudes. METHODS: The authors recruited 203 senior nursing students and 235 fourth-year medical students (total N = 438) from two major universities for a 1-day interdisciplinary teamwork training course. All participants received a didactic lecture and then were randomly assigned to one of four educational methods didactic (control), audience response didactic, role play and human patient simulation. Student performance was assessed for teamwork attitudes, knowledge and skills using: (a) a 36-item teamwork attitudes instrument (CHIRP), (b) a 12-item teamwork knowledge test, (c) a 10-item standardised patient (SP) evaluation of student teamwork skills performance and (d) a 20-item modification of items from the Mayo High Performance Teamwork Scale (MHPTS). RESULTS: All four cohorts demonstrated an improvement in attitudes (F(1,370) = 48.7, p = 0.001) and knowledge (F(1,353) = 87.3, p = 0.001) pre- to post-test. No educational modality appeared superior for attitude (F(3,370) = 0.325, p = 0.808) or knowledge (F(3,353) = 0.382, p = 0.766) acquisition. No modality demonstrated a significant change in teamwork skills (F(3,18) = 2.12, p = 0.134). CONCLUSIONS: Each of the four modalities demonstrated significantly improved teamwork knowledge and attitudes, but no modality was demonstrated to be superior. Institutions should feel free to utilise educational modalities, which are best supported by their resources to deliver interdisciplinary teamwork training.

Preventing violence in an academic setting: one school of nursing's approach.

Workplace violence occurs in many different contexts, including academic settings. However, the types of violence that make headlines are less common than the everyday behaviors that, left unchecked, may lead to extreme situations. This article describes how a school of nursing developed a program of workplace violence prevention, intervention, and response. Descriptions of the program, definitions, and workplace violence resources are included.