Nurse Educator Tips for Teaching

Holistic admissions in nursing education consider a range of criteria. In this podcast and article, Stephanie Wood and Andrea Smith discuss the implementation, evaluation, and revision of the holistic admissions process in their nursing program, which led to an increase in the number of underrepresented students admitted to the program.

Doctoral students often face challenges when attempting to write a quality literature review. The process may feel overwhelming to students as they may struggle to organize and synthesize large amounts of literature. In this podcast and article, Dr. Kristy Chunta and Nicole Smith-Rencewicz discuss a checklist they developed to ensure that all sections of the chapter are addressed, including structure, content, and mechanics. This checklist is a helpful tool that can improve doctoral student writing.

Augmented reality (AR) is an emerging interactive technology that can be employed in simulation to enhance student learning. Most of the studies on AR applications examine the participant role rather than the observer role. In this podcast and article, Chelsea Lebo and Ashley Stallworth describe the benefits of AR for observers during high-fidelity simulations. Students found the AR goggles engaging, valuable for visualizing interventions and physiological processes, and helpful for understanding emergent situations and potential patient care strategies. However, a few students had technical difficulties with the AR equipment. The authors discuss AR and its future in nursing education.

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into nursing education presents both opportunities and challenges, particularly in fostering culturally competent care. The AI-Generated Patient Education for Diverse Populations assignment is designed for sophomore nursing students to be implemented with a human. In the podcast and article, Melanie Rodriguez describes how AI helps students develop cultural humility skills to prepare them for practice.

Many nurses lack confidence in applying genomics in practice, highlighting the need for improved genomics nursing education. The International Society for Nurses in Genetics convened a steering committee to develop a competency framework defining the role of Genomics Nurse Educators. This podcast with Dr. Deborah O. Himes presents strategies nurse educators can use to teach genomics application through a nursing program. Read the full article – it is OPEN Access (and share with colleagues).

Fostering a strong professional identity (PI) during nursing education can help mitigate burnout and reduce turnover as nurses. In this podcast, Dr. Beth Ann White shares the outcomes of their study to describe the connections between students' educational experiences and their development of PI. Four main themes were pivotal in shaping students' PI: relationships, confidence, autonomy, and hinge moments (meaningful patient interactions or significant clinical events). In their article, the authors describe the full study.

Scaffolding is the technique of providing support and gradually withdrawing support until an individual can perform a task independently. This approach is inspired by Vygotsky's theory of the Zone of Proximal Development. Dr. Ainslie, Dr. Hebert, and Dr. Luke discuss the use of the scaffolding model and how that method can be used for scaling complexity within Nurse Practitioner (NP) curricula. Learn more about this strategy in their article in Nurse Educator.

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are the foundation for certification exams. MCQ writing by students is an evidence-based learning modality; however, studies on this strategy in graduate nursing programs are limited. In this podcast and article, Drs. Patti Griffith and Patricia Pawlow describe the outcomes of their scoping review on students writing MCQ in healthcare professions education. Writing MCQs is a valuable active learning strategy for graduate students who take high-stakes examinations. MCQ quality improves with faculty involvement. Working in small groups increases students' knowledge and positive perception of this strategy, as did exam inclusion of student-generated MCQ.

In an effort to engage Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) students and provide the students with an innovative method of learning difficult concepts, the authors (Dr. Colleen Moss, Dr. Helen Nation, and Mr. Eric Hall) created an escape game. NNP students solved clues to support diagnoses and treatments through analyzing, solving, and unlocking a series of puzzles to "escape" the game within a specified time limit. Learn more about this innovative strategy by reading their article in Nurse Educator.

Drs. Lori Moore, Ashleigh Bowman, Candice Selwyn, Bailey Mosley, and Jennifer Anderson describe forensic nursing and why this content is important for prelicensure students to learn: as nurses, they will care for patients who are victims of abuse. The authors integrated forensic nursing concepts throughout their nursing curriculum (1 hour of lecture and experiential activities in each course). The authors share teaching strategies for integrating these concepts into specialty courses (obstetrics and pediatric). Additional strategies and resources are provided in their article.