Re-imagining of an undergraduate, second-degree entry, accelerated nursing program's curriculum utilizing a postmodern, learner-centred lens and a concept-based framework.

INTRODUCTION: It is necessary to re-imagine nursing curriculums utilizing a postmodern approach, as outdated teacher-centred methods of nursing education with emphasis on memorization versus critical thinking no longer meet the needs of the contemporary learner and the current challenges of the healthcare environment. There is an explicit need to redesign nursing curriculums that are future-oriented, adaptive and flexible and serve the learners' best interests. BACKGROUND: Distilled from a decade of teaching experience in an undergraduate, second-degree entry, accelerated nursing program, this paper describes the construction of a learner-centred, postmodern, concept-based nursing curriculum that aims to foster learners' inquiry skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, and experiential learning-all which develop learners' autonomy, self-direction, and lifelong learning. The objective is to foster learners' transformational and emancipatory learning and metacognition. DISCUSSION: An extensive review of the current trends, contemporary nursing knowledge for the past decade (2013-2023), and seminal literature on theories and frameworks paralleled with the review of current and future trends in Canadian and global health care, including the socio-economic, politico and environmental contexts, led to the formulation of a concept-based curriculum. Grounded in the constructivist paradigm, the curriculum applies interperetivist, critical, feminist, and indigenous lenses. The Strength-Based Nursing framework was selected as the core guiding framework. The curriculum's four curricular themes and foundational pillars were adopted directly from the framework to provide a starting point for concept development. These initial themes were then juxtaposed with relevant nursing, and social theories, policies, and frameworks, ensuring a robust coverage of modern nursing knowledge and allowing for the core concepts of the curriculum to emerge. A total of 21 concepts and 192 sub-concepts were developed. CONCLUSION: Implications for future practice require nursing educators to receive support and professional development opportunities in developing skills and confidence in entering a classroom as co-learners and facilitators.

Preceptors' experiences of one to one preceptorship model for students undertaking an accelerated undergraduate nursing program: An interpretive descriptive qualitative study.

AIM: The aim of this research is to describe and interpret the experiences of preceptors' in supporting nursing students in a one-to-one model across all semesters of the nursing program. BACKGROUND: The one-to-one preceptorship model is widely used in Canada during the consolidation phase of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. The launch of an innovative two-year second-degree entry accelerated nursing program in partnership with several leading academically based health care delivery institutions in Ontario created a one-to-one preceptorship model that is offered within each semester of a two year nursing program. The literature on preceptorship models within baccalaureate programs suggest that the one-to-one preceptorship model can pose major challenges to nursing preceptors. Balancing the competing demands of providing excellent nursing care for complex patients in today's health care environment with the responsibilities of teaching nursing students were highlighted as major factors of the preceptor experience. Balancing the demands of care provision with the responsibilities of teaching nursing students is shown to be a shared experience among preceptors working with consolidating nursing students. However, a gap exists in understanding how these preceptor experiences unfold with nursing students who attend clinical practicum for nine weeks each semester of the program. DESIGN: This study employs an interpretive descriptive design. METHODS: Using a purposeful sampling technique, nine Registered Nurses from one affiliate organization, were invited to 30 - 60 min semi-structured, face to face interviews. Thematic and pattern analysis supported the data analysis. RESULTS: Four major themes emerged: acknowledging expectations to teach, recognizing preceptor needs, balancing the act of nursing and teaching and discovering self through the preceptorship experience. To make the new meaning more accessible, a conceptual interpretation of the themes were transformed into a metaphor that depicts the relationship across the meaning units. The image of a bamboo tree represents both the descriptive and interpretive insights. CONCLUSION: This study illuminates the role competency of preceptors involved in a one-to-one preceptored model in a second-degree accelerated nursing program. A continued use of a one to one preceptor model within each semester of a two-year program serves as a platform to foster cognitive companionship, clinical teaching and experiential learning opportunities.

Collaboration to change the landscape of nursing: a journey between urban and remote practice settings.

University Health Network (UHN) became a demonstration site to test a health human resource planning model to foster inter-organizational collaboration, knowledge transfer and exchange of nurses between an urban academic health science centre and a remote region in northern Ontario. Funding support was provided by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The partnership between UHN, Weeneebayko Health Ahtuskaywin (WHA) and James Bay General Hospital (JBGH) addressed retention, recruitment, professional practice development, planning and succession planning objectives. The primary goal of this partnership was to supply the staffing needs of WHA/JBGH with UHN nurses at a decreased cost for four- to six-week placement periods. This resulted in a marked decrease in agency use by approximately 40% in the WHA site during the months UHN nurses were practicing in the north, with an overall agency cost savings of $165,000 reported in the pilot year. The project also served as a recruitment and retention strategy for all organizations. It provided an opportunity to practice in new clinical settings and to engage in knowledge transfer experiences and professional development initiatives between remote and urban practice environments. In the pilot year, 37 nurses (30 from UHN and 7 from WHA) participated. They returned to their respective organizations re-energized by the different "landscape" of practice experience and toward the nursing profession itself.

Implementing a wound care resource nurse program.

Nurses are leaders in implementing innovations that can create positive outcomes in the prevention and management of pressure ulcers in patients admitted to acute care hospitals. Believing that nurses knowledgeable in best practices could impact prevalence, incidence, and care of pressure ulcers, an educational program was developed in a Canadian healthcare system to inform and empower nurses providing skin and wound care. The program afforded participants the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skill to recognize patients at risk for developing pressure ulcers and to independently treat Stage I and Stage II pressure ulcers and skin breakdown related to moisture, friction, and shear. The program includes evidence-based practice recommendations and highlights the Best Practice Guidelines developed by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, a provincial body taking an active role in the development, implementation, and evaluation of published guidelines derived from global research literature synthesis. Pre- and post participation assessment of 65 nurse participants from three hospitals deemed the program successful in terms of knowledge and fulfillment of their educational expectations. Organizational support to implement the skin and wound care resource nurse role was encouraging and medical directives for Stage I and Stage II pressure ulcers by nurses were implemented. Evaluation and monitoring of program outcomes, including pressure ulcer incidence rates, continue.