Nurse as Educator - Essay Example

T.S.Saraswathi Order No: 186654 Topic: Analysis of the Qualitative article: Perceptions of CARING in Online Baccalaureate Education. Nursing Education Perspectives Date: 14th October, 2007 INTRODUCTION Educating others, whether the learners are patients and their families, fellow staff nurses at all levels of education for many years. It is the aim of nurses to assist patients, well or ill, to become independent in managing their own health and to help our fellow colleagues and future nurses to deliver the highest possible quality of health care to those whom we serve. Although nurses recognize their legal, ethical, and moral responsibility to teach clients, colleagues, and prospective nurses, most of us acknowledge that we have not had the formal preparation to successfully and securely assume this role. It is imperative that nurses be prepared to carry out their role as educators competently and confidently, based on a solid understanding of the principles of teaching and learning. In today's healthcare arena, the unique holistic perspective of nursing practice mandates that nurses possess the knowledge and skills necessary to educate various audiences in a variety of settings with efficiency and effectiveness. FOUNDATIONS OF NURSING AS CARING The fundamental ideas related to person as caring and nursing as a discipline and profession that serves as the perspective grounding for the theory Nursing as Caring. A new generic understanding of caring or of discipline and profession, but to communicate some of the ideas basic to Nursing as Caring. Major assumptions underlying Nursing as Caring include: Persons are caring by virtue of their humanness. Persons are caring, moment to moment. Persons are whole or complete in the moment. Personhood is a process of living grounded in caring. Personhood is enhanced through participating in nurturing relationships with caring others. Nursing is both a discipline and a profession. PERSPECTIVE OF PERSONS AS CARING Caring is an essential feature and expression of being human. The belief that all persons, by virtue of their humanness, are caring establishes the ontological and ethical ground on which this theory is built. Persons as caring are a value which underlies each of the major concepts of Nursing as Caring and is an essential idea for understanding this theory and its complications. Being a person means living caring, and it is through caring that out being and all possibilities are known to the fullest. NURSING SITUATION AS THE LOCUS OF NURSING The concept of nursing situation is central to every aspect of the theory of Nursing as Caring. The nursing situation is both repository of nursing knowledge, the context for knowing nursing, shared lived experience in which the caring between the nurse and the one nursed enhances personhood. It is to the nursing situation that the nurse brings self as caring person, expressing unique ways of living, attends to calls for caring, creating caring responses that nurture personhood, in the fullness of aesthetic knowing. The nursing situation comes into being when the nurse actualizes a personal and professional commitment to the belief that all persons are caring. It should be recognized that a nurse can engage in many activities in an occupational role that are not necessarily expressions of nursing. When a nurse practices nursing thoughtfully, that nurse if guided by his or her conception of nursing. The concept of nursing formalized in the Nursing as Caring theory is at the very heart of nursing, extending back into the unrecorded beginnings of nursing and forward into the future. Remember that the nursing situation is a construct held by the nurse, any interpersonal experience contains the potential to become a nursing situation. In the formal sense of professional nursing, the nursing situation develops when one person presents self in the role of offering the professional service of nursing and the other presents self in the role of seeking, wanting or accepting nursing service. The nurse intentionally enters the situation for the purpose of coming to know the other as caring person. The nurse is also allowing self to be known as caring person. Caring communicated through authentic presence is the initiating and sustaining medium of nursing within the nursing situation. The nurse response of caring is also uniquely lived within each nursing situation. In the nursing situation, the call of the nursed is a personal reaching out to a hoped for other. The nursed calls forth the nurse's personal caring response. While the range and scope of human caring expression can and must be studied, the caring response called forth in each nursing situation is created for that moment. The nursing situation is a shared lived experience. The nurse joins in the life process of the person nursed and brings his or her life process to the relationship as well. In the nursing situation, there is caring between the participants, further the experience of the caring within the caring situation enhances personhood, the process of living grounded in caring. CARING AS A CORE VALUE IN NURSING There are five core values of holistic nursing. They are: Core Value 1: Holistic Philosophy, Theories, and Ethics Core Value 2: Holistic Education and Research Core Value 3: Holistic Nurse Self-Care Core Value 4: Holistic Communication, Therapeutic Environment, and Cultural Diversity Core Value 5: Holistic Caring Process Care Value 1 presents the philosophic concepts that explore what occurs when the nurse honors, acknowledges, and deepens the understanding of inner knowledge and wisdom. It explores the relationship centered care. It lays the foundation for transpersonal human caring, the art of holistic nursing, and provides insight into how people create change and sustain these new health behavior changes related to wellness, values clarification, and motivation theory. Holistic nursing theorists and theories are developed to guide holistic nursing practice. Holistic ethics is also addressed in both personal and professional arenas. Care Value 2 addresses the psychophysiology of body mind healing, spirituality, and health. Energetic healing also is developed to expand further one's understanding and practice of holism. Guidelines for holistic research also are explored to provide a framework for establishing evidence based practice. Core Value 3 develops and explores the concepts of therapeutic presence and the qualities and characteristics of becoming an instrument of healing. It also explores the importance of self-care. Core Value 4 explores therapeutic communication and the art and skills of helping. The necessary steps in creating an external as well as an internal healing environment are expanded to help nurses recognize that each person's environment includes everything surrounding the individual, both the external and the internal, as well as patterns not yet understood. Concepts related to cultural diversity are presented so that the nurse can recognize each person as a whole body mind spirit being. Such recognition facilitates the development of a mutually co-created plan of care that addresses the cultural background, health beliefs, sexual orientation, values, and preferences of each unique individual. Core Value 5 expands the nursing process to the holistic caring process and includes a detailed discussion of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association and the 13 domains of Taxonomy II. The nursing process assessment, patterns or challenges or needs, outcomes, therapeutic care plan, implementation, and evaluation. Self assessments and complementary and alternative strategies are developed to expand concepts relevant to healing and reaching human potential. Specific areas covered are cognitive therapy, self-reflection, nutrition counseling, exercise and movement, laughter, play and humor, relaxation, imagery, music and touch. USABILITY TESTING FOR ONLINE NURSING EDUCATION Online learning, electronic learning, or e-learning is an educational delivery tool being adopted by many nurse educators. The reasons for this are varied and include pressure from administrators who view online learning as a way to compete in a global market, from students who want the flexibility afforded by online learning, and from educators themselves who recognize the potential of e-learning. Educators involved in the design of e-learning episodes span the continuum from novice to expert in technological integration skills. The extreme gap in the breadth and depth of skills may result in the design of online learning episodes that do not meet intended instructional goals. Educators who are developing e-learning episodes need a solid understanding of instructional design techniques and an in depth knowledge of online capabilities in order to develop dynamic learning materials. Often the online materials are only face-to-face materials placed in an electronic format. Instructors type in their syllabus and materials, they proclaim an online course. This is one of the worst case examples. With even the best intentioned instructor, the result is anything but useful for learners. FACULTY PREPARATION FOR TEACHING ONLINE Instructor to Facilitator The transition to the online classroom results in changes in the faculty and student roles. Instructors who feel confident in the face-to-face classroom may experience feelings of inadequacy or nervousness when teaching online. A lack of social cues can lead to misunderstandings or behaviors that might not occur when people are in a face-to-face environment. The anonymity that the online classroom provides gives some learners the opportunity to behave more aggressively than normal. Students who are strong in confidence in a traditional classroom may find themselves intimidated in the online environment. The more introverted student may actually flourish in the online classroom. The online environment diffuses authority and places the student at the center of the learning process. Faculty-student relationships change. Some instructors report that they have experienced stronger relationships with students in the online environment, while others report feeling more distant. The instructor's role in the online classroom is transformed from knowledge deliverer to facilitator, and students assume a greater responsibility for the learning that takes place. In online learning there is a shift in emphasis from course completion to competency based education. There needs to be a balance of content delivery and the learners need for a socially constructed environment. To achieve this, it is necessary for the instructor to relinquish a certain amount of control over the learning process. Often, faculty relies on their experience in the face-to-face classroom and finds it difficult to let go of some of the old paradigm. Faculty has reported a role change from one of expert teacher in the classroom to that of a novice in the online classroom. BEST PRACTICES IN ONLINE EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS Introduction to Web-Based Teaching and Learning Web-based instruction is an innovative approach for delivering information to a remote audience using the World Wide Web as the medium of delivery. Web-based learning reduces time and space barriers to learning and thus is called "anytime, anywhere learning". Instruction via the Web can be "technology enhanced" whereby technology enhances the learning process, or "technology delivered" whereby learning experiences are Web-based. Technology enhanced instruction may include traditional classroom experiences whereas, technology delivered instruction has no face-to-face meetings with the instructor or moderator and the learning experience is online. Principles of Teaching and Learning The idea of "seven principles for good practice" had its origins in the publication of Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda Gamson's "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education". Based on extensive research of what constitutes good teaching and learning in undergraduate education, Chickering and Gamson identify seven qualities of good teaching: 1. Encourages contact between students and faculty 2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students 3. Encourages active learning 4. Gives prompt feedback 5. Emphasizes time on task 6. Communicates high expectations 7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning. Theories of Learning and the Online Environment Technology has allowed for a broader reach to students and thus has expanded access to education. Expanding access in nursing is important for two reasons: the nursing shortage and the emphasis on increasing the number of BSN nurses. Potential nursing students may be employed full time, have families, and not have the time to attend traditional educational programs. By providing online learning environments and thereby enhancing access, more students may enroll in nursing educational programs and thus reduce the nursing shortage. To meet the complex demands of today's health care environment, a federal advisory panel has recommended that at least two-thirds of the basic nurse work force hold baccalaureate or higher degrees in nursing by 2010. Aware of this need, RNs are seeking the BSN degree in increasing numbers. To meet increased demand for online learning opportunities, partnerships among universities have developed to allow for sharing of resources and to enhance the quality of online learning in both national and international perspectives. Online And Face-to-Face Learning Environments Online learning is accessible anytime and anywhere which makes it convenient for the learner. One reason is because online learning is only technology dependent. If the technology available, so is the learning. Face-to-face learning is scheduled and classes are offered at set times in specific places. This information about institutional factors leads to the conclusion that support for online programs is strong. SOURCES: 1. Susan Bacorn Bastable (2002), Nurse As Educator: Principles of Teaching and Learning for Nursing Practice 2. Manlyn H. Oermann, Kathleen Heinrich (2005), Annual Review of Nursing Education. 3. Hugh P. McKenna, Shake Ketefian (2004), Doctoral Education in Nursing: International Perpectives. 4. Carol A. O'Neil, Cheryl A. Fisher, Susan K. Newbold (2004), Developing an Online Course: Best Practices for Nurse Educators. 5. Barbara Montgomery Dossey, Lynn Keegan, Cathie E. Guzzetta (2005), Holistic Nursing: A Handbook for Practice. Read More