Curriculum Redesign in Veterinary Medicine: Part I.

Curricular review is considered a necessary component for growth and enhancement of academic programs and requires time, energy, creativity, and persistence from both faculty and administration. At Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (TAMU), the faculty and administration partnered with the university's Center for Teaching Excellence to create a faculty-driven, data-enhanced curricular redesign process. The 8-step process begins with the formation of a dedicated faculty curriculum design team to drive the redesign process and to support the college curriculum committee. The next steps include defining graduate outcomes and mapping the current curriculum to identify gaps and redundancies across the curriculum. Data are collected from internal and external stakeholders including veterinary students, faculty, alumni, and employers of graduates. Data collected through curriculum mapping and stakeholder engagement substantiate the curriculum redesign. The guidelines, supporting documents, and 8-step process developed at TAMU are provided to assist other veterinary schools in successful curricular redesign. This is the first of a two-part report that provides the background, context, and description of the process for charting the course for curricular change. The process involves defining expected learning outcomes for new graduates, conducting a curriculum mapping exercise, and collecting stakeholder data for curricular evaluation (steps 1-4). The second part of the report describes the development of rubrics that were applied to the graduate learning outcomes (steps 5-8) and engagement of faculty during the implementation phases of data-driven curriculum change.

Curriculum Redesign in Veterinary Medicine: Part II.

Curricular review is considered a necessary component for growth and enhancement of academic programs and requires time, energy, creativity, and persistence from both faculty and administration. On a larger scale, a comprehensive redesign effort involves forming a dedicated faculty redesign team, developing program learning outcomes, mapping the existing curriculum, and reviewing the curriculum in light of collected stakeholder data. The faculty of the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (TAMU) recently embarked on a comprehensive curriculum redesign effort through partnership with the university's Center for Teaching Excellence. Using a previously developed evidence-based model of program redesign, TAMU created a process for use in veterinary medical education, which is described in detail in the first part of this article series. An additional component of the redesign process that is understated, yet vital for success, is faculty buy-in and support. Without faculty engagement, implementation of data-driven curricular changes stemming from program evaluation may be challenging. This second part of the article series describes the methodology for encouraging faculty engagement through the final steps of the redesign initiative and the lessons learned by TAMU through the redesign process.

Innovating Traditional Nursing Administration Challenges.

The evolving and complex practice environment calls for new mindsets among nurse leaders, academics, and nurse innovators to envision innovative ways to manage and optimize traditional tasks and processes in nursing administration. The purpose of this article is to present 3 case studies that used linear programming and simulation to innovate staffing enterprises, financial management of healthcare systems, and curricula development.

Professional Presentation Skills Development in a Graduate Nursing Program.

BACKGROUND: Expert communication skills are essential for nurse leaders to effectively influence health care. Because effective communication is a learned process, the curriculum should promote the development of presentation skills. An educational strategy was designed to promote the development of effective presentation skills for learners in the Nursing Leadership and Administration (NLA) track of the master's in nursing curriculum. METHOD: Sixteen learners in the NLA cohort were participants in a three-session presentation skills workshop. Following a baseline presentation, participants were taught presentation strategies and skills. Expert evaluators and learner self-assessments rated their presentation skills. RESULTS: Analysis of evaluators' ratings showed statistically significant (p < .001) increases in learners' presentation effectiveness. Analysis of learner self-ratings showed a statistically significant (p = .008) increase in perceived effectiveness of overall presentation skills. CONCLUSION: This unique educational intervention improved nurse leaders' presentation skills. Faculty found that the professional presentation skill workshop was important to learners' success.

Pioneering through chaos.

The 2014 International Nursing Administration Research Conference, "Pioneering Through Chaos: Leadership for a Changing World," was held at the Texas Woman's University in Dallas, Texas, in the fall of 2014. The program drew more than 100 attendees from 4 countries. The conference informed attendees from both academe and practice about the role of nursing administration in navigating the dynamic healthcare climate. This article will report on the insights from the conference presenters.

Career coaching: innovative academic-practice partnership for professional development.

This article describes an academic-practice partnership that uses career coaching to support the health care system's strategic plans to increase nurses' educational level. Nurses and other employees seek coaching to explore their career path and create an educational plan to accomplish their goal. Career coaching by nursing faculty provides a unique service as they have expert knowledge of various educational programs as well as methods for achieving academic success. The academic-practice partnership is a win-win-win; the health care system achieves advancement of professional nursing practice, employees are supported to advance their education and professional nursing practice, and faculty benefit from immersion in current professional concerns and issues.

Fostering completion of the doctor of philosophy degree through scholarly collegial support.

The doctor of philosophy (PhD) degree in nursing science prepares nurses to be scientists through a rigorous program of scholarship and research. Nurses who complete this degree are recognized globally as researchers who are expected to pursue a career of intellectual inquiry. Today, the internationally small cohort of PhD-prepared nurses contributes empirically to the generation and development of nursing science. There is currently a shortage of doctorally prepared nurses to meet the increased demands for researchers and educators in schools of nursing and experts in patient care. The Institute of Medicine has recommended doubling the number of doctorally prepared nurses by 2020 and has emphasized that nurses achieve higher levels of education and training through an improved educational system that promotes seamless academic progression. However, in the United States, the overall PhD completion rate is only 57%. This article reports on the process undertaken by a collegial support group of students in a PhD in nursing science program who encouraged each other's progress through the dissertation process within a calendar year.