Mary Ann Drake RN, PhD
Course ID and Name:
1. NURS 4250 Community Health Nursing
2. NURS 4240 Leadership & Management in Nursing
Abstract
Problem Description
Our Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) curriculum is offered in an eight week format. This particular format is very successful with the adult learner and attracts many of the registered nurses to Webster University’s BSN completion program. Though successful, one of the weaknesses of this type of format is the ability to provide meaningful clinical experiences over a shortened time period. This calls for some creative teaching methodologies as clinical practice is an essential piece of what we do as nurses and an important piece to do well in nursing education.
The traineeship will provide the opportunity to continue to build the clinical component of our program which would strengthen what we currently offer. I will look at available technology as a means of enriching current clinical experiences within the eight week format. The pedagogical issues to be addressed within each of the courses are time (eight week terms), depth of clinical experiences, clinical interviews, clinical narratives, building on research application skills, developing a strand on Benner’s research on developing clinical expertise and clinical narratives, and interactive modules based on web enhanced course work.
Intervention
Course A:
Community Health Nursing is a five credit hour course (the
highest credit hour course within our curriculum). Community Health
Nursing is a course that is only offered in the senior level undergraduate
curriculum and most job opportunities require at least a BSN for a position.
Most students come with limited experiences in this area. A difference
from some of the other course work is that we are not building on current
skills. One of the major clinical tools in CHN is the home visit. Currently
we do not provide the students with the opportunity for home visits.
The inability to offer home visits within our curriculum is directly
related to the eight week term. It is unfair to ask clients to initiate
a relationship with a nurse for only eight weeks and then to start all
over again with another nurse. So much of the success of the home visiting
intervention is based on building a relationship with clients which
requires time. By not offering a home visiting experience we are not
fully preparing the students for the job market in community health
thus not making them truly competitive with other baccalaureate prepared
nurses.
With available technologies I could build on this piece of the course by developing a web page. The web page would include links to further support what the students are doing within their clinical component. Several options would be a piece on clinical narratives. Benner (1991) I would interview practicing public health nurses about their practice. This would build on research completed with Lee SmithBattle and Margaret Diekemper (SmithBattle, L., Diekemper, M. & Drake, M.A., 1999).
On the web site I could add links to enrich the community assessment assignment. Tools that I am aware of that I may use on a web page are as follows:
| a. |
One offered through University of Minnesota School of Nursing. |
b.
|
Another is a tool box designed by nurses at the Illinois Department of Health to orient nurses to community health nursing positions. |
c. |
A third one is an environmental health module offered through University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. |
d.
|
Tox Town, an environmental module, offered by the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services (http://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/). |
Course B:
Leadership and Management in Nursing is a four credit hour course.
We are currently developing a tract in Leadership within our MSN program
so what is developed within through this traineeship could be built
on in our MSN course of study.
My proposal for this course would be similar to the Community Health Nursing course with the development of a course web page. I would include interviews with practicing nurses in leadership positions. The students within this course observe a leader within the clinical area but this would provide them with exposure with nurse leaders in various practice settings.
Outcomes/Benefit of the Project
There are several outcomes/benefits of this project:
| a. |
This experience would provide new nursing opportunities thus strengthening the clinical component. This exposure may encourage more graduates to seek positions in community health nursing. |
b.
|
The proposal would enrich what we are currently able to provide within the eight week term. |
c. |
I hope that the further development of the Leadership and Management course would encourage students to continue study within the Leadership track in our Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) program. |
d.
|
The opportunity to develop the ideas in this proposal would be a huge stepping stone to develop faculty comfort and expertise within this area at a time when we are initiating courses on line. |
Evaluation:
As part of the evaluation process I would develop a tool to
measure student response in our current courses and again within completion
of the courses with the development of the web page. The students in
these courses will be tracked to determine how many continue their studies
at the graduate level.