Planning and Conducting a Class - Nursing Educational Process - Term Paper Example

Planning and Conducting a Class Student’s Name Institution Executive Summary The paper delves into the understanding of the nursing educational process. It defines what nursing education has been and what it has become. More so, it evaluates the evolution of nursing education from its roots up until the present practice that necessitates the inclusion of community-based health care provisioning. The paper identifies shortfalls in the curriculum and learning approaches utilized by most medical institutions. It criticizes the focus of most of these medical institutions on curative health care practice. Instead, it offers that nursing education should incorporate the evolving needs of the group and the community. It insists that the learning programs should shift from being subject oriented to a more student oriented learning process. To do so, the paper reviews literature touching on the planning and conducting of a nursing education class. Thereafter, it offers various recommendations that will assist in the promotion of nursing education into a community-based nursing practice. Introduction Nursing education has experienced a lot of complex challenges, for instance, the demand for the promotion of community health, educational evaluation the improvement of educational quality and the level of competency shown by graduate nurses. Therefore, the nursing schools must be responsible and respond to the numerous educational changes so that they can increase their competitive advantage against other international and national schools. Nursing education has been on a rapid rise, as the number of undergraduate and graduate courses increases. This has led to many questioning the quality of education (Kim et al., 2010). Nursing education is critical since it is closely tied to people’s health and ergo nursing educators should be inclined towards a more higher quality improvement. As a consequence, it is prudent that the quality of nursing education is evaluated on a continuous basis at the local, federal, and international levels. Evaluation of nursing education ensures quality is maintained. This evaluation could take part in two stages, that is, internal where the schools, faculty staff are responsible and external evaluation which would be the responsibility of outsiders, for example, government departments and non-governmental organizations (Winslow et al., 2016). Such a practice enables nursing educators to collect and organize data that outlines the overall performance of education curriculum, goals and achievements (Eslamian, Moeini, & Soleimani, 2015). Therefore, this paper will highlight the evolution of nursing education. It will evaluate how the nursing educators have over the years planned and conducted nursing education and how it has evolved into the nursing curriculum that is practiced today. The paper will conclude by giving various recommendations on what should be improved to increase nursing education quality. But first, the essay will accentuate the background of the problem and provide examples of the same. Background of the Problem Curriculum and instruction are key components of nursing education. The curriculum covers the general structure of the nursing education programs. It also speaks of an institution’s overall philosophy and mission, the course of study, the intended goals of learning and the applicable means of evaluating the program. Whereas, instruction involves the educating and learning strategies the students and faculty experience and engages themselves in so that they can achieve the goals of the curriculum. For instance, the advancements in the field of pharmacology have altered what learners are taught about drug therapy. Also, the changes in germ theory have changed what students learn concerning aseptic technique. Likewise, should educational theory evolve as teachers change the way they teach and how students learn (Scheckel, 2014). The training of nurses and their role in the provision of health care must be magnified and enriched. This is the case because nurses provide and will continue to provide the largest part of health care in every country. To accomplish this, there must be a shift in emphasis such that education and learning do not only focus on curative care but they should also acquire knowledge and the necessary skill-set to deal with the health care requirements of the community. But first, all nursing students and educators must have a corresponding shift in their professional attitudes (Kim et al., 2010). Nonetheless, it is far more difficult to alter the basic nursing curriculum of older and established nursing programs than it is for the new ones. Even so, the fundamental principles of effective change pertain to both programs. Some suggest that a critical analysis of all the prevailing programs should be done. Thereafter, a comprehensive and progressive refinement of the programs is necessary so that all nursing students and graduates can provide curative, preventive and rehabilitative care to all persons and the wider community (Khodaveisi, Pazargadi, Yaghmaei, & Bikmoradi, 2012). Comprehending the curriculum continuum of nursing education helps one to appreciate the diversity of the field and what shared aspects bind it together. Furthermore, it promotes a sense of belonging among the nursing fraternity as they are able to understand the various complexities encompassing educational preparation for health care provision and it motivates the common understandings of the different pathways within nursing education. There are different levels of nursing education and various issues associated with each level. Today, it is important for students to grasp the significance of instruction and curriculum. In yester years, the faculty was responsible for what and how nursing students learned. In spite of that, recent studies have indicated that a student-centered curriculum helps improve the overall outcome and the learning experience (Candela, Dalley, & Benzel-Lindley, 2006). Therefore, the nursing faculty must positively respond to this trend and seek ways that promote a learning environment where the teacher and student are not discrete entities each with their own pre-determined duties and responsibilities. Instead, students should be actively engaged in their own learning process. Literature Review Education and curriculum in nursing are crucial if the nursing practice will keep relevant to the to the healthcare needs of the community. Many medical learning institutions do not incorporate, and are sometimes unaware, of the new concepts in nursing practice which are a result of new expectations from the society and their increasing demand for health care. Some have done little to include new trends in health care and are still teaching their students the traditional nursing responsibilities. Such learning only concentrates on an individual patient, and the community or larger family only comes into play when the nursing practitioner considers how they would impact patient care. This can be attributed to the affiliation of medical schools to hospitals, which in most cases provides the only clinical experience for most students. Such clinical experience pivots towards a one-on-one healthcare relationship, the desperately sick and the acutely disabled. It leaves out the community perspective and nurses are only taught to worry about the health of their patients. Consequently, nurse practitioners cannot plan while considering the social group to which the patient belongs—which at times are the contributory cause of an ailment—and instead focus on the individual alone (Bouchaud, & Gurenlian, 2014). The school program needs to prepare students for community oriented nursing. All this depends on the various factors affecting the school curriculum development and the needs of the health care system under which the students will eventually practice their vocation. Essentially, there are a number of ways in which a nursing curriculum can be structured. For one, the faculty can place more emphasis on the subject matter that is considered a must to know by other nursing professionals. Alternatively, the nursing student can be exposed to a whole range of skills that they will need in their practice at various levels of mastery. If the learning approach applies the first structure, then the community based nursing curriculum will be included in the subject matter to be studied. But if the teaching takes the latter structure, then community-based nursing skills will first have to be ascertained and then scrutinized to discern skill, attitude and knowledge. This will then be used to define the various performance levels and help the nursing educators derive the teaching objectives (World Health Organization, 2010). There are many opinions and theories describing an individual’s learning process. Nonetheless, all agree that learning is purposed to aid an individual meet dynamic circumstances, pinpoint and solve problems and develop means of using data. Learning is continuous, active and sequential since it involves evaluation and re-evaluation, organization and re-organization of concepts and skills—even when the learning itself is not being done consciously. Educators and learners need to note that, as wants and conditioning circumstances evolve, so to should their learning. They should unlearn and re-learn plus add on more values and skills. The learning process comes to an individual more readily when they are exposed to practice and experience in a range of conditions. In summary, learning is more useful when an individual takes part in a real-life situation where the learner puts theory into practice (Dumont, Istance, & Benavides, 2014). Scholars have undertaken studies trying to determine the standards of nursing education in various countries and their strengths and weaknesses and offering solutions to their shortcomings. Some have suggested that nursing education should be analyzed from the point of teaching effectiveness using the quantitative approach (Khodaveisi, Pazargadi, Yaghmaei, & Bikmoradi, 2012; Salsali, 2005). However, these studies did not address the quantitative aspects of evaluation of nursing education. Studies have shown that evaluation management in some countries, for instance, Iran, is government controlled. This is a challenge since any change in government cabinet positions will affect the management of education institutions. It creates management instability and the hiring of inexperienced managers who are not committed to the evaluation of nursing education (Bikmoradi, Brommels, Shoghli, Khorasani-Zavareh, & Masiello, 2010). Furthermore, such government control of the evaluation process, be it indirect, is also affected by its centralization and hierarchical structure. This is mainly because the curriculum policies are centralized and unspecific. Moreover, there is always the possibility of a political angle during an evaluation process. This, some researchers have come to conclude, is the main reason why some policies in regards to curriculum evaluation are ineffective, unstable and uncoordinated (Masiello, & Bikmoradi, 2011). Another challenge concerning the evaluation of the nursing curriculum is poor and ineffective planning. Some of the evaluation planning procedures lack excellence modeling, are unsystematic and end based. Such plans are ambiguous when it comes to the objectives of the evaluation process and are more attentive to a limited standard of evaluation and lack an effective feedback mechanism (Fitzpatrick, 2006). After designing of the evaluation process then comes the implementation and herein lies another challenge. Since the evaluation design process in itself lacked the necessary factors, for instance, effective student and faculty member evaluation design, irregular evaluation times and political interference it will lead to faulty measurements (Khodaveisi, Pazargadi, Yaghmaei, & Bikmoradi, 2012). The lack of proper tools and approaches in evaluation is a big problem. Such educational evaluation procedures should be efficiently integrated taking into consideration both the external and internal stakeholders. Otherwise, these structural weaknesses in evaluation processes will eventually affect clinical education and lead to a poorer integration of community based nursing education. Another factor to consider when planning and conducting a class is the continuing education of nursing graduates. This is the execution of planned experiences that promote the advancement of the skill, knowledge and attitude of a nurse. More so, it leads to the increase in a nurse’s function and health care activities within the community (Ellis, & Hartley, 2012). In addition, it is important to organize for seminars, workshops and conferences that promote the professional growth of nurses (Yoder-Wise, 2014). Nurse’s knowledge should be perpetually updated. A nurse’s knowledge should be their number one investment due to their focus on the health of humans—as a human being’s health is core to maintaining the fabric of society. To guarantee the future of the nursing practice, all health providers should be educated and impacted on skills that will ensure higher standards of professionalism and organization within the nursing profession (Gallagher, 2007). However, there are identified challenges associated with nurses continuing their education. For instance, nurses lack motivation to learn more due to the obligatory nature of nursing education, the lack of resources, the increasing number of students per class, the reduced amount of clinical spaces available and the overload associated with nursing education curriculum, which leads to reduced time for premium educational courses (Fitzgerald, Kantrowitz-Gordon, Katz, & Hirsch, 2012). Nursing coursework is a big impediment to nursing education since some institutions have a poor schedule for educational classes, the content of the lecture is highly inapplicable in the real world and the lack of synergy between the nurses and the physicians (Eslamian, Moeini, & Soleimani, 2015). Also, since the learner is part of the learning process, there are various factors that affect them. Learners have been found to be poorly prepared when it comes to learning. Some studies have indicated that some nursing students suffer from poor class concentration since some may have had to work a few hours before a class or some have family related issues (Eslamian, Moeini, & Soleimani, 2015). This was also highlighted in another case study by Chong, Sellick, Francis, & Abdullah (2011) of Malaysian students who were reported to be experiencing higher levels of tiredness due to work overload and family problems. These obstacles were the biggest factors leading to their lack of class attendance. Learners were also found to be highly dissatisfied with their timetables, especially those touching on educational courses. This too was due to increased workload and familial duties. Therefore, if the education programs interfere less with the learner’s job and family responsibilities, then they are most likely to attend the classes. This consequently leads to increased quality of nursing education (Eslamian, Moeini, & Soleimani, 2015). More importantly, nursing learners should play a role it what and how they learn. Team work between the learners and educators is necessary to ensure continuing education. Another factor affecting learning is teacher-focused. Many learners preferred to be taught by higher ranking nurses as opposed to physicians. Nursing students believe that the high-ranking nurse educators better understand their abilities, wants and educational requirements. Moreover, the nurses have a first-hand experience in their course specialty and possess the relevant skills translating to better teaching methods. The learners’ familiarity with the educator, who in this case is the high-ranked nurse, will attract and incentivize nursing students. It has also been found to be a crucial factor in improving the quality of education (Fitzgerald, Kantrowitz-Gordon, Katz, & Hirsch, 2012). Analysis of Literature Review Literature has identified that they are major alterations involved when the nursing curriculum is shifted from a conventional pattern to a more community-based healthcare approach. It would involve shifting the primary focus of education and training, enlarging the target population, incorporating more learning settings, redefining the nursing role and concerns, improved evaluation of the nursing practice and a holistic redefinition of the nursing practice. However, it is not possible to effectively and smoothly alter all sections of the curriculum to incorporate these changes. Also, the essay has identified that they are numerous challenges when it comes to the evaluation of educational systems and learning. It requires a dynamic and collaborative effort that touches on all levels that are the ministerial level, university level and school level. The dynamic nature of the nursing education system will require that a dynamic evaluation method is implemented if it is to be effective. It is important for the evaluation system to include excellence models and an effective feedback system together with proper planning of the evaluation process. If these lack, then the implementation of the evaluation process will yield naught. More so, it is crucial the planning assimilates all stakeholder’s opinions, both external and internal. This will at least help reduce the inefficiencies brought about by the centralization and hierarchical nature of government. In summary, the planning and conducting of a nursing and education class requires that all the needs of the learner, the teacher and the community at large be addressed. The learner is the central cog in the learning process. And their needs and learning requirements should be at the forefront of any planning process. If not, then the education program will be disrupted and there would be no continuing education. The class schedules, which are mostly obligatory, should be considerate to the workloads and personal and family commitments of the learner. A continuing education is the only guarantee of quality. Moreover, the learner should have a higher level of familiarity with their educators, with most of them opting for high-ranking nurse educators as opposed to physician educators. Nursing practitioners cum educators have a seemingly better understanding of the needs and university educational requirements of the learner. Recommendations In most instances, nursing education programs produce nursing graduates with limited skills and ability when it comes to providing health care outside of a clinical set-up. Consequently, the conventional nursing duties do not match up with the health requirements of individuals, groups and the society. Therefore, it is important that nursing educators identify the characteristics of community oriented health care needs. This can be done by implementing the three processes of community focused problem solving procedures: assessment, implementation and evaluation. These three approaches will ensure that the traditional nursing program is modified to incorporate relevant nursing practice in accordance with the health needs of the community. Furthermore, a subject focused or teacher-centered approach of learning that concentrates on the content of the subject and the recall ability of the student is outdated. Focus should be shifted towards a competence and ability approach to address health care requirements. Ergo, shifting from a subject-centered to a student-centered approach for nursing curriculum will be achievable only if the education program incorporates the range of tasks required for effective community-based health care practice. Also, the learning environment should ensure that it evolves as the nursing practice and needs change. The focus should shift towards the acquiring of knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to community-based health care provisioning. To do so, objectives must be clearly stated so that a proper assessment of the learning process is done. This will ensure that there is an effective feedback mechanism that takes into consideration base remedial measures concerning certification and promotion. For nursing education to achieve a sustainable continuing education, the needs of the nurse must be met. Consequently, the planning and management of nursing education must be founded on the understanding of the health practitioner’s needs. Special focus should be placed on problems related to the educators. To do so, it is prudent to form educational committees in schools, hospitals and government institutions that deal with health-related issues and organizing and evaluation teams. These teams can apply a nursing logbook that records all nursing graduates after which planning for further learning and nursing education can be arranged. References Bikmoradi, A., Brommels, M., Shoghli, A., Khorasani-Zavareh, D., & Masiello, I. (2010). Identifying challenges for academic leadership in medical universities in Iran. Medical Education, 44(5), 459-467. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2009.03570.x Bouchaud, M., & Gurenlian, J. (2014). A Qualitative Study on Preparing Baccalaureate Nursing Students for Community/Public Health Nursing as Perceived by Nurse Educators and Administrators. International Journal of Nursing, 2(2), 43-55. Retrieved from http://www.ijnonline.com/index.php/ijn/article/view/121 Candela, L., Dalley, K., & Benzel-Lindley, J. (2006). A case for learning-centered curricula. Journal of Nursing Education, 45(2), 59-66. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16496859 Chong, M., Sellick, K., Francis, K., & Abdullah, K. (2011). 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