Portfolio System in Helping Students in Acquiring Nursing Education - Assignment Example

Portfolio System in Helping Students in Acquiring Nursing Education Introduction Portfolio System is a comprehensive tool which helps in student guidance towards the ultimate achievement of learning objectives [Por14]. Moreover, effective and efficient implementation of the overall system helps patients in their early recovery while providing them best possible nursing services. In addition to this it helps educators in encouraging students to track the course objectives and also assuring the learning elements that they would require as medical professionals. The instructors or preceptors are responsible to give on time feedback which makes the entire process more valuable. All of the portfolio activities and responses are recorded for further assessment and also for students’ career guidance later on [Por14]. Contrary to this mastery learning is associated with the teaching methodologies which help in making students learn within the universal classroom settings [Gus10]. Although different students have entirely different understanding level and learning capacities but if the teacher is able to give appropriate attention and time then most of the students can really do well. In broader perspective mastery learning covers diagnostic pre-assessment, group based instructions, progress monitoring, corrective instruction, enrichment activities etc. [Gus10]. Deliberate Practice is a significant concept but currently it is not a part of nursing terminologies. Research indicates that it offers a direction towards skill improvement and proficiency in the nursing profession [Cla12]. Deliberate practice is required to improve team work while reaching out for continuous opportunities on clinical skills development [Cla12]. This actually helps students in practicing the nursing theories in the healthcare environment with high resemblance to reality cases. This paper aims to present a curriculum portfolio for a pre-licensure school. Every curriculum has some learning objectives which must be fulfilled in order to facilitate students in gaining maximum benefits from that course. To achieve these objectives certain tasks or activities are to be conducted within the supervision of educators. This portfolio will include examples of work that proves mastery of the curriculum. For instance, the students’ deliberate practice, representations of work, discussions, development of policies and practices while ensuring the learning outcomes and the overall understanding of nursing principles. Community Health Nursing Care is the course that I have selected for portfolio design. The course is particularly planned to provide better health care facilities to the general community members. For instance, it facilitates patients who are suffering from infectious diseases. Moreover, it includes children health, environmental toxins, preventable diseases, injuries due to accidents or violence, mortality among babies etc. [Phy09]. Following are the course objectives of Community Health Nursing Care [Com14]: Nurses should be able to work as community leaders in promoting healthy lifestyle after completing this course. They must be able to participate in environmental policy making while contributing to the global environmental betterment. As graduates, they must possess complete understanding of evaluation and program development. They should be able to work under health consultancy capacity and education. Moreover, they must establish direct management and administrative skills in order to render their services in private or public health care centers. Hence it can be concluded that Community Health Nursing Care extensively helps in disease prevention, health promotion and protection in different circles including child care, school health, occupational health or senior citizens’ health [Com14]. Description Fundamentally a curriculum portfolio consists of multiple models and ways to demonstrate mastery and achievement of learning objectives, for instance, CPR or Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation [Oer11]. Oermann along with few other researchers conducted an experiment on deliberate practice using CPR so as to evaluate the nursing students’ psychomotor skills. The experiment was simple and short in which researchers tried to figure out difference among students who had deliberate practice and those who did not have prior experience. Results indicated that students who had deliberate practice in addition to the initial training were performing better than others. Thus it was concluded that deliberate practice is extensively required in nursing education so as to improve performance and expertise of students [Oer11]. Apart from CPR other methods such as rubric, simulation, reviews and case studies, policy and procedures, educational programs, competency model etc. can also be used to encourage deliberate practice while achieving the critical course objectives. However, this paper will focus more towards the Simulation in Pre-licensure Education because it provides significant chances of deliberate practice in a safe and controlled environment. Moreover, it enhances the critical thinking skills of students, their participation and overall course learning capacity [Sim10]. Assessment Portfolio for Community Health Nursing Care This assessment portfolio is based upon the simulation technique which essentially has two contents i.e. Fidelity and Computer based simulation [Sim10]. Fidelity is broadly defined as the accuracy of system. In order to attain maximum accuracy the system has to be closely related with the real life which is actually one of the fundamental requirements for community health care. However, for the purpose of deliberate practice fidelity is divided into three main components including low, moderate and high. Low fidelity helps students in practicing nursing lessons in complete isolation [Sim10]. This can be facilitated through providing students equipped practical centers where they can work as per their schedule with minimum distortions. Moderate fidelity provides group discussion based on case studies. Here, students can practice healthcare services without entering into the real situation. Finally high fidelity gives structured learning experiences to the students where they are exposed to artificial clinics. High fidelity simulation has strongest relationship with real life scenarios hence they extensively support deliberate practice as compared to other simulation types [Sim10]. On the other hand computer based simulation tests students’ knowledge, critical thinking and practical skills through different software applications. This is also divided into three levels i.e. low, moderate and high [Sim10]. Computer based simulation is assisted by skill and task trainers who have complete understanding of nursing education. These trainers allow nursing students to practice techniques and skills on computer software with varying difficulty levels. For instance, some software displays complete human body with all of its functions while others display only a part of it. Moreover, it represents real interactions, responses, etc. Their core objective is to present almost real environment so as to facilitate students’ learning [Sim10]. Object Following are the most important objects involved in simulation process designed for Community Health Nursing Care [Sim10]: Educator or Preceptor: They must be able to encourage students for deliberate practice while enhancing their critical thinking and problem solving skills. Furthermore, they should assess different situations and decide upon the best treatment or practice. The educator is also responsible to facilitate students during the simulation process. Students: They are needed to understand the learning outcomes of Community Health Nursing Care. Objectives of the simulation experience must be comprehended beforehand by the students. Moreover, they are expected to prepare for clinical simulation similar to the actual patient care. Educational Practices: There should be a well organized orientation prior to the initiation of Community Health Nursing Care Simulation Program. This is supposed to encompass all the technological and environmental requirements which educator finds most important and relevant to the course objectives. Here, educator will have to perform the role of facilitator. Both educator and students must have simulation briefing soon after the experience while also evaluating the overall practice program. Simulated Environment: The practical environment should resemble closely to the real clinical setting while giving the most authentic healthcare exposure to the students. Importance Simulation has great significance in terms of deliberate practice in Community Health Nursing Care. For instance [Sim10], It facilitates deliberate practice in a safe and controlled environment while reducing the harmful impacts of medical mishaps. It enables students to practice nursing concepts and procedures before treating a real patient. Simulation helps in enhancing the critical thinking of students while also promoting learning and participation. Moreover, it helps in clinical rotations, attainment of educational goals, evaluation of teaching methodologies and investigation of alternate methods for deliberate practice. Mastery Learning through Simulation The simulation technique can be highly effective and efficient when combined with traditional teaching methodologies [Sim10]. Also it helps in preparing students for the contemporary lab practice, clinical performance and skill development. Although simulation cannot substitute real patients, mentors or role models but it does provide substantial background information on nursing practices. Mastery learning can be achieved through simulation especially in Community Health Nursing Care through following considerations [Sim10]: Nursing education programs should incorporate deliberate practices and education experience in addition to initial training with actual patients. All of these programs should be governed and supervised by professional educators and trainers. Faculty should also be given trainings regarding the responsibility of simulation programs and the demonstrations of clinical experiences. Moreover, the educators must ensure that students are fully benefitting from course objectives and deliberate practice options provided by the institution. Deliberate practice in one of the most important aspects in contemporary nursing because it helps students in becoming successful professionals. It also helps them in developing critical thinking while also improving the current medical practices. Its importance becomes even more crucial in Community Health Nursing Care because here the patients belong to varied backgrounds while having entirely different medical issues. However, this entire research, discussion and analysis reveals that simulation technique is not widely used in Community Health Nursing Care and hence extensive exploration is required in this area. Furthermore, the future research should be supervised by institutional heads and faculty members of pre-licensure schools. Conclusion Portfolio System helps students in acquiring nursing education while having due emphasis over mastery learning. Nurses in the present world are exposed to critical situations especially those operating in community settings. Hence educators are required to encourage them towards deliberate practice which will not only support them in the attainment of course learning objectives rather it will also assist in their career development. This paper defines the portfolio criteria for Community Health Nursing Care which has been prepared after studying different nursing journals, websites including the Board of Nursing, Texas and the community course objectives of School of Nursing, Washington. Despite of importance of the simulation technique it is not extensively appreciated or utilized in nursing institutions and hence this topic can be researched in greater detail before implementation. References Por14: , (Portfolio System, 2014), Gus10: , (Guskey, 2010), Cla12: , (Clapper, 2012), Phy09: , (Phyllis, 2009), Com14: , (Community Health Nursing, 2014), Oer11: , (Oermann, 2011), Sim10: , (Simulation in Pre-licensure Nursing Education, 2010), Read More