Nursing Educators Are Required To Keep Abreast Of Current Trend And Development In Nursing Education

Best practices for nursing

Discuss about the Nursing Educators are Required to Keep Abreast Of Current Trend And Development In Nursing Education.

Over the course of time, nursing education has moved from care-giving service to college and university campuses, the role of nursing faculty has evolved according to the need of the society. The forces driving behind the changes are numerous; multiculturalism of society, shortage of nursing faculty, changes in the treatment agenda for health-care reform. The rapid change in the political environment and health care sector is showing a dramatic effect on the role of nursing lecturer (Billings & Halstead, 2015). Nursing professional holds the responsibility for the outcome of the teaching process. The lecturer need to strike the balance between teaching, research work and academic service, in many institutes this agenda is monitored closely for attaining the mission of the institute (Iwasiw& Goldenberg, 2014).This report discusses various issues regarding nursing educator who need to keep themselves abreast with the current trends leading towards development of nursing education. The practice of best practices in nursing and evidence based medicine approach are discussed. In continuation to the above discussion, this report also highlights the challenges a new lecturer faces when he/she enters the teaching environment from clinical settings and how professional development is taken care-off by college or university for new nursing lecturers.

Best practices for nursing

The concept of best practicing among nurses and health-care providers aims at using the concept of care, techniques, and intervention to promote higher quality care to older peoples. However, the term has gained a lot of attention but a solid definition of best practice is lacking. Best practices refer to nursing practices that are evidence-based made available through nursing research. The main goal of best practices is to provide helpful and relevant nursing findings based on research in real-life clinical settings (Alligood, 2014).In past, the research-based find of nursing practice have been called by many terms such as a research based practice or research utilization, but as of now the term best practices is most popular. The knowledge based on interdisciplinary research and allied field of nursing is expanding rapidly (Keating, 2014). The high quality of nursing care depends on translating these research findings into real-life practicing. To keep up to date knowledge in the nursing field many methods can be followed such as conferences, reading a nursing journal, peer networking with colleagues to keep abreast with the latest practices being followed. According to code of ethics, nursing professionals follow seven guiding rules.

Evidence-based nursing practice

Providing ethical care: Ethical issues are an essential component of nurse-patient relationship. In everyday practice, nurses encounter various conflict and distress in clinical settings (Billings & Halstead, 2015). Nurses might face situation where he/she has to face more than two ethical issues while handling a patient.

Health and well-being of client: Nurses are responsible for the well-being of patient and is responsible for preventing any harmful adverse effect. As a starting point nurse should ask for the patients view. Nurses involved in any kind of research work need to respects client well being before fulfilling the objective of the work.

Privacy and confidentiality: By maintaining privacy, it means limited access to patient bodily functions and conversation. People from different background have different values and hence nurses have to deal with them appropriately. Any information relating to the patient’s health condition that is, physiological, physical should be kept confidential. Sometimes situation arises when nurses encounter situation, which is needed to be inform to patient otherwise it may lead to serious harm (Billings & Halstead, 2015). Before taking, such decision nurse should consult with the health care team and then approach the patient.

Maintaining commitments: Nursing as a profession is self-regulated meaning they must not abandon the patient and run away as they are committed towards patient care. Nurses should maintain the ethics, standard of practice and abstain from using abusive language.

Truthfulness: Nurses should not act in a decisive manner. It also refers to provide information to client from time to time (Keating, 2014). The present scenario of the health care system has changed, so have the rule degrading enclosure of information. By showing honesty towards client a relation of trust builds up between the nurses and clients

Respect for life: Human life is precious and needs to be treated with respect and protection. Technological advances in health care system allow longer life support systems. When clash broke out between existent nurse and patient where conflicts arise by difference in personal value, the nurse should arrange for another caregiver. In case no one is available, the nurse in charge should take care of the necessary treatments (Bestpracticeinnursing.co.uk, 2017).

Evidence-based nursing practice

Best practice is a more generic style of using research-based nursing evidence whereas the evidence-based practice is more related to evidence from medicines. Evidence-based medicine approach is defined as a judicious, conscientious and explicit use of evidence for personalized care or treatment of the individual patient (DiCenso, Guyatt & Ciliska, 2014).The practice of evidence-based medicine integrates the knowledge of individual clinical expertise with external evidence from systematic research. Systematic research differentiates between best practice and evidence based. The fine line, which connotes the difference, is that systematic research is a well-defined rigorous process and any research finding is cited in a series of studies published. It is different from traditional literature reviews in some aspects (Boltz et al., 2016) Systematic research review is more comprehensive, criteria based quality of research and use randomized clinical trials to set the research as the gold standard. The grading process is maintained such that all the evidence from a research are not considered of equal weight age and some may not be considered at all.

Challenges faced by new lecturers

Challenges faced by new lecturers

Nursing by profession is dual in its nature, involving both teachings in class and in the clinical setting. Shortage of nursing professional has drawn attention towards recruitment of nursing students, although it is the direct result of the health-care need of patients in today’s society. In lecture-style classroom settings, number students can be accommodated with a lesser impact on lecturers.  The student to teacher ratio in classroom style teaching ranges from 1:15 to 1:6 whereas, clinical mode of teaching requires more faculty to student ratio and this mode of teaching is gaining more popularity (Billings & Halstead, 2015).By 2022, there would be a vacancy of 1 million nursing positions is to be filled. Role as a nursing educator is different from caring out practice in clinical settings(Keating, 2014). Many of the expert clinicians are entering into the position of lecturer are not accustomed to the environment of teaching. They might be bachelor’s, master’s or Ph.D. degree holders but with no formal experience of teaching in a classroom environment. The challenges encountered by new lecturers in nursing education are elaborated as below (Keating, 2014). 

Resource availability

Availability of resources varies widely among university. While faculty is undergoing the interview, process he/she should ask about the resources needed for their style of teaching. These may include various specimens, models, and library support and laboratory supplies nd technology needed for teaching (Missildine et al., 2013). Faculty should also look for facilities like research grants, mentoring, professional development activities offered by the institute. If the institute does not support such activities faculty might look for other communities helping with those areas and government bodies offering scholarship. It is always advisable for new faculty to generate a wish list of materials and ways about procuring them before teaching students ("Overcoming teaching challenges", 2017).

Management of student activity and misconduct

Lecturers need to ensure the safety and productivity of the learning environment, which provides quality learning and teaching experience. Faculty should look after the students in class behavior and relate it with the course activities (Chernomas& Shapiro, 2013).The misconduct behavior of students falls into three categories: criminal conduct, violating administration rules and annoying acts. The nature of misconduct act can sometimes fall into two categories, like the act of stealing a test; this comes under the category of both criminal and administrative violation (Anselmi, Glasgow & Gambescia, 2014).

Annoying acts: Annoying acts are behavior that is not desired out of a student but this does not violate the administrative code of conduct. Behaviors such as poor communication skills, aggressive, not punctual, monopolize class discussion, lack of time management and repeated poor performance (Oermann & Gaberson, 2016).The lecturer should approach the student whenever annoying act is been carried out, not to scold him/her rather the lecturer should focus on making them realize the goal or objective of the learning course. This approach is not asking the student to be polite rather it explore the behavior of the student towards the rest of the learning community. Lecturer should be keen on this point that annoying acts are not left unchecked, otherwise the student might carry that behavior into professional workspace (Ghaffari, Dehghan-Nayeri & Shali, 2015).

Resource availability

Administrative violation: A behavioral act, which tries to violate the code of conduct of the institute, is known as administrative violation. Student’s behavior towards plagiarism, fabricating results, cheating and harassment falls under the category of administrative violation. Since code of conduct differs from institute to institute, the lecturer should first acquaint himself or herself first to judge whether the students have violated any code of conduct or not. Faculty might find an opportunity to assist the student but it will depend on the student’s attitude for bringing the change (Smith & Carpenter, 2015). For example if a student is found to alcohol impaired in the classroom situation then there is zero tolerance policy shown towards the student. The best approach towards solving misconduct is to document the observation first, then talk openly about it with the student. If after counseling session the acts continues then documentation of the behavior should be forwarded to administrative officer to appropriate action as per the policy of the campus (Themes, 2017).

Criminal conduct: behavior that violates the local and state law comes under the code of criminal conduct. It may vary among the students possessing behavior such as drugs, alcohol, acts of violence, harassment, possessing firearms and theft. Code of criminal conduct varies between local and state laws and the rules vary from institute to institute. Before taking, any initiative the faculty should acquaint themselves with the practices at the institute level. Itis recommended for the faculty to discuss the criminal conduct with fellow colleagues before putting it forward to higher authority for appropriate actions as per institutional action (Nurse, 2015). For example instances as if a student threatening fellow student to injure him limits the capacity of the lecturer to deliver his best. If the faculty thinks, a student has conducted a criminal offence it is advisable to document the criminal code of conduct and submit the document to the law enforcement department of the institution (Themes, 2017).

Student engagement and active learning

During the undergraduate courses, students gain knowledge in a vast range of biomedical, social, human and basic sciences and in-depth knowledge of nursing specialty. A paradigm shift in the teaching strategies from teacher centered to student centered learning can be noticed in the recent years. A lack of active participation among the students can be seen when moving from high school to colleges. Due to low involvement in the learning process leads to dissatisfaction, the rise in drop-out and negative psychology (Missildine et al., 2013). In addition, lack of direct engagement in patients care suppresses the ability of learning objectives. Over the entire learning environment also includes pedagogical, social and psychological context, which affects the student’s attitude towards study and achievement.

There is a high correlation between engagement and motivation in clinical settings determining the academic success level. Students who are more engaged in studies are able to transfer their skills in clinical situations (Acs.org.au, 2017). Engagement in nursing studies defined as the willingness to participate actively in the clinical learning process and exhibit good behavior inside and outside of class. According to a survey conducted by a National survey of student engagement (NSSE) 3000 nursing students, teachers and health professional selected randomly, revealed that professional clinician perceived less engagement in collaborative and active learning than peers in education. They have found 83% of the nursing student was more academically challenged than those in education and health professionals (Missildine et al., 2013). The novice learners apply intellectual capabilities example: attitude, competency, safety, knowledge, information technology in the classroom-learning environment.

Multicultural education

Another problem lecturer’s face is the culmination of nursing students from different backgrounds. Immigration leads to diverse population growth. To meet the needs of the changing society-nursing professional from different background should join nursing to be able to serve their particular communities. One of the major concerns of new nursing lecturer in a multicultural environment is relating to language and communication. The main mode of communication between student and teacher is language. The language issues become worst in scenarios when teacher and student are from different backgrounds and they speak different dialects. The language also becomes a major issue for local students from different educational systems, different communities, and strata (Peek & Park, 2013).

Facing the diverse culture of students can be an adventure as a lecturer. Academic investment into students of diverse cultural background is good for long-term nursing’s future (Alligood, 2014).  Initial time and energy need to be invested to meet the global knowledge to address all the needs. The lecturer must assess students as early as possible to clear out any confusion and anger. Lecturer’s ability to think out of the box concerning to meet the diverse needs of the students is crucial to fulfilling.

Professional development for new nursing lecturers

The appointment as faculty in any college or university is governed by the induction body, cooperating with the administration of the institution for teaching service and scholarship (Alligood, 2014). Faculties are appointed to an institution to fulfill various goals of the nursing institute and the position of the lecturers is given according to their degrees and experiences. Promotion is based on the criteria specified by the Institute. In the context of nursing education, professional development is a requirement rather an option (Pool, Poell & Cate, 2013).While nursing educators need to keep abreast of the current trends and development in their own field of expertise. At the same time, they are also expected to enhance their skill in learning approach and teaching while keeping abreast with managerial and leadership quality skills in an academic environment (Chernomas & Shapiro, 2013). For the professional development of new nursing lecturer, the concept of CPD (continuous professional development) proves beneficial than continuous nursing education. CPD method is nothing new but it aims at lecturer to become expertise through ad hoc input. CPD encourages the lecturer to enhance his/hers knowledge, research skills in clinical settings, mastery on the process of education and finally translate all the learning’s in the workplace to professional development (Acs.org.au, 2017). To attain the rationale of CPD in today’s scenario where one need to face numerous challenges of the changing pattern of diseases and its demography, keep an update of the latest educational technologies and also to keep abreast with knowledgeable customers and their expectations (Hoeve, Jansen & Roodbol, 2014).

Tenure of faculty is reciprocally dependant on the faculty as well as the university. Faculty must maintain the productiveness and high standards of teaching, professional conduct and high quality research work. The faculty is expected to follow and deliver the vision and mission of the institute during the tenure (Acs.org.au, 2017). By doing this during the tenure, the faculty is promoted to next level and he/she secures an academic freedom at later stage of teaching career. The practice of academic freedom was started in the year 1940 in almost all university (Acs.org.au, 2017). The concept behind introduction of academic freedom is to protect the ability of restraining the faculty against political, administrative and student related issues, and ensure the faculty to carry out the research of interest without any hindrance. Confinement of academic rights does not mean that, the faculty is able to alter the course curriculum, subjects taught or any discussion irrelevant to course as set by the institutional committee. Withdrawal of tenure of faculty can be done is case of financial emergency of the university or due to unscrupulous behavior (Alspach, 2013). Promotion leads to advancement of rank in the academic settings. For being promoted the faculty should produce enough evidence of excellence in teaching, scholarship acquired and service provided to institution.

At the start of lecturer career, the lecturer should identify and realize his/her weakness and choose an appropriate pathway for learning.  Professional development should not be mistaken as a mode of punishment rather it should be accepted as an intellectual challenge as the lecturer takes up new responsibilities in the institution. In order to achieve this lecturer must set his/her personal goals towards career development (Alspach, 2013). The process of professional development not only restricts to oneself but the lecturer should contribute to peers development as well, which in fact turns good for the Institute and the purpose of nursing education (Cherry & Jacob, 2016).

The professional development activities need flexibility, taking into accounts the challenges and problems at the institutional level. The role of faculty is multifaceted with multiple demands. Lecturers those who are new to the role of teaching must find a mentor to guide him/her for career advancement. The institution holds the responsibility to monitor the quality of work done and to ensure any corrective measures when needed (Hoeve, Jansen &Roodbol, 2014).

Conclusion

On a concluding note, this report gives a critical review on the role of nursing educator in the current scenario of nursing field. The nursing faculty must keep abreast with the currents trends throughout the world in the field of nursing and reflect the same in his teaching so that the growing nursing professional are nurtured in a proper way to perform in a clinical settings. As discussed earlier their will a demand of 1 million nursing professional by 2020 due to rise in the demand of health-care related issues in the society. The concept of best practices in nursing has been over powered by evidence based and research based evidences. Due to the stringent nature of research based evidence, which is also treated, as gold standard in nursing based education is preferred mode to teach student about any curatives of diseases. Entering into the role as an educator from a clinical settings is somewhat difficult to cope up with. As a faculty, he/she might be an expert in clinical settings but as a novice in teaching might face various difficultly at the start of teaching career, which was discussed elaborately earlier. Hence, faculty plays a pious role in shaping the future of nursing industry by guiding the budding nursing professionals with correct guidelines.

References

Alligood, M. R. (2014). Nursing theorists and their work. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Alspach, J. G. (2013). Core curriculum for critical care nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Anselmi, K. K., Glasgow, M. E. S., &Gambescia, S. F. (2014). Using a nursing student conduct committee to foster professionalism among nursing students. Journal of Professional Nursing, 30(6), 481-485.

Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2015). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Boltz, M., Capezuti, E., Fulmer, T. T., &Zwicker, D. (Eds.). (2016). Evidence-based geriatric nursing protocols for best practice. Springer Publishing Company.

Chernomas, W. M., & Shapiro, C. (2013). Stress, depression, and anxiety among undergraduate nursing students. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 10(1), 255-266.

Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. Elsevier Health Sciences.

DiCenso, A., Guyatt, G., &Ciliska, D. (2014). Evidence-based nursing: A guide to clinical practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

DiCenso, A., Guyatt, G., &Ciliska, D. (2014). Evidence-based nursing: A guide to clinical practice. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Ghaffari, F., Dehghan-Nayeri, N., &Shali, M. (2015). Nurses’ experiences of humour in clinical settings. Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 29, 182.

Hoeve, Y. T., Jansen, G., &Roodbol, P. (2014). The nursing profession: public image, self?concept and professional identity. A discussion paper. Journal of advanced nursing, 70(2), 295-309.

Iwasiw, C. L., & Goldenberg, D. (2014). Curriculum development in nursing education. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Keating, S. B. (2014). Curriculum development and evaluation in nursing. Springer Publishing Company.

Lee, T., Kang, K. H., Ko, Y. K., Cho, S. H., & Kim, E. Y. (2014). Issues and challenges of nurse 

Missildine, K., Fountain, R., Summers, L., &Gosselin, K. (2013). Flipping the classroom to improve student performance and satisfaction. Journal of Nursing Education.

Nurse, H. (2015). Department of Nursing. Kyung Hee Medical Center.

Oermann, M. H., &Gaberson, K. B. (2016). Evaluation and testing in nursing education. Springer Publishing Company.

Overcoming teaching challenges. (2017). Teachingcommons.cdl.edu. Retrieved 17 June 2017,fromhttps://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/cdip/facultyteaching/Overcomingteachingchallenges.html

Parahoo, K. (2014). Nursing research: principles, process and issues. Palgrave Macmillan.

Peek, E. H., & Park, C. S. (2013). Effects of a Multicultural Education Program on the Cultural Competence, Empathy and Self-efficacy of Nursing Students. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing, 43(5).

Pool, I., Poell, R., & ten Cate, O. (2013). Nurses’ and managers’ perceptions of continuing professional development for older and younger nurses: a focus group study. International journal of nursing studies, 50(1), 34-43.

Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Stockert, P., & Hall, A. (2016). Fundamentals of nursing

Smith, M. J., & Carpenter, R. (2015). Encyclopedia of nursing education. Springer Publishing Company.

Themes, U. (2017). Managing student incivility and misconduct in the learning environment. Nurse Key. Retrieved 14 June 2017, from https://nursekey.com/managing-student-incivility-and-misconduct-in-the-learning-environment/

Ward, D. J., Furber, C., Tierney, S., & Swallow, V. (2013). Using framework analysis in nursing research: a worked example. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(11), 2423-2431.

Bestpracticeinnursing.co.uk. (2017). Welcome. Best Practice in Nursing 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017, from https://www.bestpracticeinnursing.co.uk/