The Transforming of Nursing Education - Assignment Example

? Transforming Nursing Education Transforming Nursing Education The nursing service staff constitutes the largest segment of the nation’s healthcare personnel. Since nurses take part in the direct care of patients, they are influential in ensuring the realization of healthcare objectives. However, nurses often encounter complex challenges in the course of their duties. This is due to rapid changes that are occurring in healthcare systems that are continuously evolving. The healthcare environment has realized significant changes characterized by the panoply of technological, demographic, intellectual, moral and economic complexities. Rideout (2000) argues that to educate means to instill intellectual, moral and social instructions in pupils; to train or instruct purposely. Thus, nursing education in the current century must embrace a model of education which integrates moral reasoning and ethical values with technical expertise. Competitive nursing education should produce graduate nurses that are able to ask and seek to answer the questions that these challenges pose for their patients, their communities, their profession and their own lives (Rideout, 2000). Such a model will adequately prepare graduates to face their challenges head on, put their knowledge into action to enable their patients and communities to move to health and healing, and enable the profession to grow and mature. The profession of nursing in the United States is at a significant moment. In fact, the last national nursing study took place almost forty years ago, and profound changes have occurred since then. The profession has realized changes in science, technology and patient activism. Consequently, these changes have a massive impact on nursing education. Moreover, the responsibilities of nurses continue to expand. Nurses now do most bedside monitoring, make almost all home visits, assist and teach ageing patients to manage multiple chronic illnesses, and deliver much of everyday primary care (Benner et al, 2009). Nurses ensure patient safety while handling a wide array of intrusive technologies where the margin of error is exceptionally narrow, and they do so in increasingly complex, hazardous environments. Currently, nurses administer care in widely diverse settings. These include acute hospital bedside care, ambulatory settings, school and community nursing care centers and nursing care homes for the elderly and technologically dependent patients. Nursing education should prepare nurses so that they can practice safely, accurately, and compassionately in spite of the challenges posed by rapid changes in the U.S healthcare system. When they enter into practice, they should show flexibility in adapting to any site of practice which might range from the less complex school nursing to extensive nursing care in sophisticated hospital departments. To practice safely and effectively, today’s nurses’ must be in command of nursing knowledge and science; from normal pathological physiology, to genomics, pharmacology, biochemical implications of laboratory medicine for patents’ therapies, the physiology of respiration in the lungs, cellular transport of oxygen in critical patients and so on. Furthermore, they need to understand the human experience of illness and the usual growth and development. Nurses often receive invitations to perform highly skilled technical, scientific and rational work. Thus, they have to utilize various skills drawn from nursing science, natural physics, biological sciences; not to forget the social sciences and humanities. Current healthcare institutions encounter numerous challenges when training professional nurses and medical practitioners. Therefore, a competent nurse poses an exceptional command of extensive skills and knowledge and shows deep commitment to each patient’s best interests. Because no simple characterization of Registered Nurse (RN) roles is possible, nursing education faces immense challenges in preparing its students. Both the costs and tasks of preparing all round nurses appear to be shared between the institutions that provide their basic formal education, and the employers who orient them to assume responsibilities required in various situations of their practice. Nursing students can prepare to attain RN license in three ways. First, diploma programs in hospital schools of nursing offered to high school graduates. Second, associate degree nursing programs (AD) or AD in nursing offered in community colleges for two years. Finally, baccalaureate programs (4 years) offered in colleges or universities leading to baccalaureate degree in nursing. Until 1970, the majority of new graduates held nursing diplomas. In fact, of the RNs who held licenses in 1980, 54 per cent had graduated with AD and 20 percent with baccalaureate programs. However, in mid 1980s, a majority of the nurses had graduated from institutions of higher learning. Most of them had AD or baccalaureate degree in nursing. All these three types of basic nursing education undertake to produce a generalist registered nurse. The nature and extent of the differences and similarities among baccalaureate, AD and diploma educational pathways to the attainment of RN license is not widely known. Although each of the 1,422 nurse education programs probably lists its curriculum requirements in catalogues, there no compendiums of the information in a form that permits comparative analysis. The accrediting body of all these programs (the National League for Nursing) does not provide written quantitative or minimum requirements for numbers and distribution of curriculum hours; and corresponding curriculum requirements for clinical experience that would permit such analysis. However, one distinction is clear. Only the attainment of baccalaureate degree in nursing permits the graduate to progress masters and doctoral nurse education. A number of institutions offer baccalaureate completion programs for diploma and AD graduates who wish to attain baccalaureate degree in nursing. Graduates of all the three types of nurse education programs take the same standard national examination to obtain licenses as registered nurses in their respective states. Transforming the total curriculum to educate the millennium nurse and meet the changes of a transforming healthcare delivery system can be achieved through a number of ways. In order to realize a successful curricular change, faculty should determine which change is necessary and discuss critical questions to establish the direction of the intended change (Benner et al., 2009). Thus, the change agents should determine the community’s health problems, where nursing is being practiced today and where it will be practiced five to ten years from now. This can also be achieved by exposing students to the full spectrum of health care delivery. It is critical to provide a wide variety of clinical sites within the total curriculum. Consequently, settings for certain courses should change as communities change. Changing faculty role is another strategy that can be used (Benner et al., 2009). This will, enable the faculties to adjust to changes in curriculum. Faculty members should be allowed to discuss their feelings openly. This approach pulls them together and moves them forward. In the clinical arena, moving from teaching in acute care to other areas requires learning new content and expertise related to what clients are like and how care should be delivered. The board of governors of the national league for nursing (2005) argues that tomorrow’s nursing education must be research based. Therefore, it should be taught by well equipped and competent professionals. The board of governors (2005) suggests that nursing education should ensure maximum indulgence of students as active participants in the educational enterprise. In order to realize these goals, all players must take part in formulating and implementing anticipated nursing education transformations. The national league for nursing should spearhead the transformation process. As the coordinator of the nursing curricular, the national league for nursing should devise procedures that will lead to a smooth transformation in the nursing education. The national league for nursing will require the participation of nursing education providers, non governmental organizations and the federal government. The national league for nursing should act as the initiator and regulator of the transformation. The national league for nursing should harmonize the current nursing curricular so that all nursing students receive uniform education. Non governmental organizations may contribute to the transformation process by funding research and other projects. The federal government needs to be the chief financier of all anticipated projects. In addition, the change process should involve students. Thus, the national league for nursing, NGOs, the federal government, nursing education providers and the nursing students fraternity must all come together in order to realize significant changes in the nursing education. The action plan required for the realization of the intended transformation should be followed strictly. Thus, the national league for nursing calls upon nursing educators to support faculty in their efforts to be innovative in their teaching, expect faculty engagement in evidence based teaching practice and emphasize the value of the scholarship teaching during appointments, tenure and deliberations (Board of governors, 2005). The federal government and other organizations will need to fund and support nursing education research. The national league of nursing expects all professional nursing organizations to remain focused on aspects and areas that are in line with the organizations’ mission and expertise (Board of governors, 2005). The board of governors (2005) argues that faculties should base their curriculum decisions, teaching practices and evaluation methods on current research findings. Faculties whose expertise is in nursing education should initiate and sustain serious conversations about the uniqueness of the faculty role, the value of pedagogical research, and the need for an inclusive science of nursing education (Board of governors, 2005). The board of governors indicates that faculties should focus on innovations and refrain form the ordinary content coverage. The board indicates that Deans, directors and chairpersons, need to provide financial support and any other beneficial support to faculties whose main expertise is teaching and whose research is pedagogical in nature. In addition, all stakeholders that include faculty, directors, deans, chairpersons and the national league for nursing education should liaise with bodies that regulate and accredit nurses to win their support for innovation and significant reform (board of governors, 2005). Three indicators can be used to measure the success of transformations in nursing education. An in depth student and educator engagement proves to be a key indicator of such success (Benner et al., 2009). Amazingly, U.S nursing programs have proved to be effective in forming professional and ethical comportment. Nursing education has proven to be significant in coaching and experiential learning that are effective in equipping students with a deep sense of professional identity, commitment to the values of the profession, and to act with ethical comportment. In addition, the removal of organizational and economic pressures that impede excellent nursing practice should be another indicator of positive growth in nursing education. On the other hand, the integration of clinical practice assignments and classroom teaching programs by educators will be a significant indicator of satisfactory progress (Benner et al., 2009). The U.S nursing education gives a chance to students to work directly with patients and the healthcare professionals. However, their involvement with patients and other healthcare professionals comes with constant changes and numerous responsibilities in clinical situations. Research has shown that when classroom and clinical instructions lack proper coordination, students show fragmented experience. A fragmented experience derails students’ capability to understand situations and make sound clinical judgments. Moreover, the transformation can be indicated by a revised curriculum that properly integrates nursing science, natural and social sciences, leadership, and humanities to ensure the production of all round clinical graduates (Benner et al., 2009). Research has proven that nursing demands in-depth and comprehensive domains in which knowledge is increasing, seemingly exponentially. The U.SD nursing education is ineffective when it comes to teaching nursing, natural and social sciences, technology and humanities. Thus, a harmonized curriculum that reflects all these disciplines will be a clear indicator of progress in nursing education. Therefore, it can be noted that the U.S healthcare system has undergone significant transformations. These transformations have brought numerous challenges in the healthcare system. Nursing education needs to undergo profound transformations in order to cope up with the ongoing changes in the healthcare system. This is particularly significant because nurses constitute a significant number of the healthcare personnel. Stake holders need to cooperate so as to realize the anticipated changes. In addition, students should be involved in the transformation process. Success of the transformation process can be detected in three ways. This can be seen through an enhanced in-depth engagement between students and educators, and the integration of clinical practice assignments and classroom teaching programs. Furthermore, the transformation can be indicated by a revised curriculum that properly integrates nursing, natural and social sciences, leadership, and humanities to ensure the production of all round clinicians (Benner et al., 2009). Refernces Benner, P. et al. (2009). Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Board of Governors National League for Nursing. (2005). Transfroming Nursing Education. National Board for Nursing. Retrieved on 1 April from http://www.nln.org/aboutnln/positionstatements/transforming052005.pdf. Rideout, E. (2000). Transforming Nursing Education Through Evidence Based Learning. Massachussets: Jones and Barlett Learning. Read More