Sharing Our Journey: Implementing a Multicounty Substance Use Prevention Program in Area Schools.

The purpose of this article is to describe an interprofessional, evidence-based, nurse-led, substance use prevention program implemented in local and surrounding county school settings by university nursing and other health science students and to explore these students' perceptions of their training and implementation of the program. This program was developed from a community assessment revealing the rise of adolescent substance use and the need for ongoing substance use prevention. This program's journey encompasses a 4-year period with feedback from students in four university departments (nursing, psychological and brain sciences, public health, and social work) who learned and implemented the Say It Straight program targeting elementary and middle school-aged children. This program was taught over six weeks, with 45-minute lessons per week. Feedback collected over the period of the program reveals what is felt to be the most useful parts of the training, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the model implementation. School nurses are child advocates and often serve as leaders in developing health policies and programs in the school setting. This nurse-led, interprofessional, health promotion project can be viewed as a model for school nurses in establishing university partnerships to address community health needs.

Enhancement of Professional Development of Front-Line Nurse Preceptors in a Dedicated Education Unit.

BACKGROUND: Dedicated education units (DEUs) have been well established throughout the country as a means of developing clinical skills in nursing students. In a DEU, maintaining an adequate number of well-prepared clinical nurse preceptors is essential for unit sustainability and effective student perception. METHOD: This study was a quasi-experimental design using self-reported survey data. A comparison analysis was conducted using the initial results of the Revised Professional Practice Environment (RPPE) survey (i.e., pre-participation and no orientation) after completion of an orientation program and participation as preceptor in a DEU. RESULTS: Front-line nurses who participated as preceptors for one semester in a DEU demonstrated statistically significant improvement in two of the eight components of professional practice measured by the RPPE. CONCLUSION: This study lends support to the notion that preceptors do experience improvement in professional practice as a result of participation in a DEU. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2017;48(1):40-46.

Concept-Based Curriculum: Changing Attitudes and Overcoming Barriers.

Many nursing educators have considered the implementation of a concept-based curriculum, with active, conceptual teaching and learning strategies, which offers a way to respond to the overwhelming content saturation in many nursing curricula. However, barriers abound, including faculty concerns about loss of control, changing faculty role and identity, and fear of failure. This article clarifies these legitimate barriers and offers practical strategies for success in curriculum change.

Triangulating Competencies, Concepts, and Professional Development in Curriculum Revisions.

Curricular reform, as reported in the literature, has been described as a tortuous change process. This article demonstrates how a series of retreats using consensus building methodologies facilitated efficient change among a large faculty body. Nimble work groups completed discrete aspects of the project and promoted engagement. The curriculum is described, including assimilation of concepts, competencies, and professional development. Lessons learned for creating a positive and timely curricular change are presented.

Outcomes and lessons learned regarding the use of interviewing for baccalaureate nursing school admission.

This article presents a case study of the adoption, use, and outcomes of an admission interview process for selection into a large public baccalaureate nursing program between 2007 and 2011. This article reports the effects of implementation, including how interviews affected the grade point average of incoming students as well as student diversity, retention, and National Council Licensure Examination scores, over nine consecutive admission cycles. During the initial implementation cycles, reported satisfaction with the process was high; however, as implementation progressed, it became clear that the anticipated gains from the interview process related to ethnic and gender diversity were not being realized. Furthermore, implementation of the interview strategy created unforeseen difficulties. These two factors led to a decision to stop using this strategy for admission into the baccalaureate program. Lessons learned in the implementation of interviews as an admission criterion are included in the discussion.

Comparing the effectiveness, practice opportunities, and satisfaction of the preceptored clinical and the traditional clinical for nursing students.

AIM: A preceptored clinical education model was introduced in partnership with a health care agency and compared with the traditional model for nursing clinical education. The preceptored model provided clinical education that more realistically approached the job responsibilities of the registered nurse. METHOD: Students were surveyed and measured at three points in their curriculum. RESULTS: Students in the preceptored clinical reported significantly more practice opportunities, but there were no significant differences on any cognitive measures of performance. In the first semester, the preceptored group reported higher satisfaction and perception of learning facilitation. These differences disappeared at the mid and endpoint measures. CONCLUSIONS; Preceptored students appeared to have greater practice opportunities, but this experience did not alter classroom performance or satisfaction beyond the first semester.

Creating tomorrow's leaders and innovators through an RN-to-bachelor of science in nursing consortium curricular model.

The critical need to increase the number of baccalaureate-prepared RNs to improve the safety and quality of patient care in today's complex health care system is a pressing issue in health care. One part of the solution lies in the attainment of higher education of RNs prepared at the associate and diploma levels who make up the majority of the nursing workforce in the United States today. The Indiana University Schools of Nursing located throughout the state of Indiana collaborated to create a statewide RN-to-bachelor of science in nursing curriculum that is flexible, innovative, and meaningful. The plan focuses on the strengths and unique learning needs of returning RN students. Specifically, this curriculum offers year-round online courses in 7-week terms, which allows students to enter and exit the program within 1 year, and a curriculum with more choices and fewer constraints than is typical for baccalaureate nursing degrees. This learner-centered plan fully incorporates the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Essentials for Baccalaureate Education (2009) throughout the curriculum. It is conveniently delivered online, takes into account and gives credit for students' previous learning and work experience, and allows the students to pursue nursing specialty knowledge for college credit. Working together as a consortium to achieve these goals across an entire state with 8 regional campuses required focused attention on the concerns and strengths of all the stakeholders and successful implementation of effective communication strategies.