Culturally Responsive Teaching in Nursing Education: A Faculty Development Project.

Culturally responsive teaching is a vital skill for nurse educators. A diverse nursing workforce is needed in the US to represent the population's demographics. Recruiting, retaining, and engaging a diverse student body is critical to addressing issues of disparities and cultural sensitivity in health care. In a project to promote success among diverse nursing students, nurse educators collaborated to create and present faculty development programs to build culturally responsive teaching skills. This article includes examples of culturally responsive teaching and describes the project and the faculty development curriculum and teaching materials produced.

Education as an Intervention Toward Recognizing and Eliminating Incivility.

Incivility in nursing is a pervasive and evasive problem that many nurses do not easily recognize or may simply shrug off as "normal." However, incivility produces a hostile work environment and can jeopardize safety. A study was conducted to (a) determine nurses' ability to recognize incivility in nursing after an online educational intervention on incivility, (b) ascertain the effectiveness of online education toward assisting nurses with understanding how to ward off this behavior, and (c) determine the types and effects of incivility participants experienced. Findings suggest that education on incivility may assist nurses with identifying uncivil behaviors exhibited by nurse peers and help them understand strategies to combat it. The types of incivility reported by participants were similar to findings of other studies; effects included unsafe behaviors and somatic consequences.

Virtual Simulations: A Creative, Evidence-Based Approach to Develop and Educate Nurses.

The use of virtual simulations in nursing is an innovative strategy that is increasing in application. There are several terms related to virtual simulation; although some are used interchangeably, the meanings are not the same. This article presents examples of virtual simulation, virtual worlds, and virtual patients in continuing education, staff development, and academic nursing education. Virtual simulations in nursing use technology to provide safe, as realistic as possible clinical practice for nurses and nursing students. Virtual simulations are useful for learning new skills; practicing a skill that puts content, high-order thinking, and psychomotor elements together; skill competency learning; and assessment for low-volume, high-risk skills. The purpose of this article is to describe the related terms, examples, uses, theoretical frameworks, challenges, and evidence related to virtual simulations in nursing.

Perceived facilitators and barriers to baccalaureate degree completion among registered nurses with an associate's degree.

BACKGROUND: A strong movement is underway in the United States to increase the percentage of baccalaureate-prepared registered nurses (RNs). However, the percentage of associate's-prepared RNs who go on to pursue baccalaureate education remains low. The authors sought to determine facilitators and barriers that associate's-prepared RNs experience in progressing toward baccalaureate nursing education. METHOD: A convenience sample (n = 81) of associate's-prepared RNs was used to collect data on perceived facilitators and barriers to progression toward baccalaureate nursing education. RESULTS: Facilitators included a desire for personal growth, professional and career enhancement, programmatic and articulation friendliness, and encouragement by others. Barriers included family and job constraints, financial concerns, and lack of differential treatment between associate's-prepared RNs and baccalaureate-prepared RNs. CONCLUSION: Although at first glance the identification of four facilitators and three barriers may appear to indicate an advance toward progression to baccalaureate education, the magnitude of the barriers may outweigh that of the facilitators. Therefore, the magnitude of both facilitators and barriers is worthy of future study.