Assessment of learning needs of nurse educators: continuing education implications.

Because of current structure, content, and outcomes of master's nursing curricula, administrators responsible for hiring nurse educators often have no choice but to employ clinical experts as teachers. This article reports on the results of an investigation designed to ascertain the self-reported learning needs of nurse educators in a southern state. This investigation confirmed that nurse educators have numerous learning needs specific to fulfillment of the nurse educator role. Findings suggest that learning needs differed according to the educator's level of academic preparation and type of employment setting. The results provide useful insights for individuals planning continuing educational offerings for nurse educators with varied backgrounds.

Implementing the research facilitator role.

What are the factors that enhance or impede successful implementation of the research facilitator role in a school of nursing? The authors review the literature related to research facilitation and describe their experiences in planning, implementing and evaluating research facilitator roles in two different schools of nursing. Implications for others initiating similar roles are identified.

Specialization in adult health/medical surgical nursing: what does it mean?

In this descriptive study, all NLN-accredited master's programs in the United States were surveyed to describe the content and form of the Adult Health/Medical Surgical (AH/MS) Nursing component of the curricula. An 82% response rate was achieved. The study confirmed a high degree of diversity in the AH/MS Nursing component of master's degree programs. It revealed a lack of consensus on the amount and kind of content necessary for specialization in AH/MS Nursing. Few curricula were based on an identified nursing model/theoretical framework, although students in most programs were required to utilize a nursing model as a framework for advanced or specialty practice. The structure of class and clinical learning activities varied markedly. Ideas about graduate faculty's role in clinical instruction were dissimilar. Findings from the study could guide decision making for the AH/MS Nursing component of master's-level curricula. Curriculum revision seems to be inherent in the nurse-faculty role, yet curriculum decision making can be an onerous task. This is especially true in today's master's nursing programs where clinical specialty areas are not well defined and diversity and ambiguity abound. As faculty members in a master's nursing program where numerous specialty areas had been developed, we became increasingly frustrated in our attempts to identify specific knowledge and skills that should be acquired by students specializing in adult health nursing. Traditionally, this rather broad specialty area has been a "catch-all" for the study of a wide variety of age groups and health alterations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)