Profile of a leader: unearthing Ethel Johns's "buried" commitment to racial equality, 1925.
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In 1925, Canadian nurse leader Ethel Johns was hired by the Rockefeller Foundation to study the status of black women in nursing in the United States. Despite the acknowledged excellence of her report, the study was shelved. It remained "buried" in the basement of the Rockefeller headquarters for almost 60 years until American historian Darlene Clark Hine discovered it there in the 1980s. The aim of this article is to extend current understandings of Johns based on this and other evidence not accessible to her biographer in 1973. The discussion will illuminate her commitment to social equality by highlighting the 1925 report that perceived and articulated the racist character of relations between white institutions and black nurses in an era when few others would do so. It seems vital that this study be recognized as a focal point in Johns's outstanding nursing career, and that her success in leadership be acknowledged as inextricably linked with her passion for justice and equality. (+info)
Developing a scholarship community.
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PURPOSE: To report the results of a multidisciplinary, interinstitutional writing support group established to facilitate faculty scholarly productivity. ORGANIZING CONCEPT: The road to scholarship can be filled with many obstacles, among them time constraints, teaching and meeting demands, student needs, office interruptions, and lack of colleagueship. The problems associated with lack of colleagueship, in particular, can be compounded for faculty who work in isolated contexts with few, if any, senior faculty to serve as mentors. METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT: The Western Writers Coercion Group evolved over a 2-year period from a small group of nursing faculty at a single institution to include, by its second year, 21 faculty from five western university campuses and three academic disciplines. The group met biweekly via teleconference with the objectives of defining and accomplishing realistic individual scholarship goals and providing a forum for the critical exchange of ideas. RESULTS: The ongoing support and mentoring of the group led to significant writing outcomes in the form of manuscripts submitted for publication, abstracts submitted for conference presentation, grant proposals developed, and collegial relationships formed. DISCUSSION: Although the benefits of group participation varied somewhat for faculty at different points in the career trajectory, they seemed to accrue at all levels of development. Group members underscored the many less quantifiable advantages of group participation: exposure to broader professional perspectives, the formation of key professional relationships, the enrichment of multidisciplinary input, and individualized assistance with time management, goal setting, and actual drafts. CONCLUSIONS: The structure and experience of this group, which continues to meet regularly, might be a model to guide other groups of scholars who face geographic isolation and who struggle with balancing time and work and finding motivation for the process of writing. (+info)
Creating enduring change: demonstrating the long-term impact of a faculty development program in palliative care.
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BACKGROUND: Improved educational and evaluation methods are needed in continuing professional development programs. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term impact of a faculty development program in palliative care education and practice. DESIGN: Longitudinal self-report surveys administered from April 2000 to April 2005. PARTICIPANTS: Physician and nurse educators from North America and Europe. All program graduates (n = 156) were invited to participate. INTERVENTION: Two-week program offered annually (2000 to 2003) with 2 on-site sessions and 6-month distance-learning period. Learner-centered training addressed teaching methods, clinical skill development, and organizational and professional development. MEASURES: Self-administered survey items assessing behaviors and attitudes related to palliative care teaching, clinical care, and organizational and professional development at pre-, postprogram, and long-term (6, 12, or 18 months) follow-up. RESULTS: Response rates: 96% (n = 149) preprogram, 73% (n = 114) follow-up. Participants reported increases in: time spent in palliative care practice (38% preprogram, 47% follow-up, P < .01); use of learner-centered teaching approaches (sum of 8 approaches used "a lot": preprogram 0.7 +/- 1.1, follow-up 3.1 +/- 2.0, P < .0001); and palliative care topics taught (sum of 11 topics taught "a lot": preprogram 1.6 +/- 2.0, follow-up 4.9 +/- 2.9, P < .0001). Reported clinical practices in psychosocial dimensions of care improved (e.g., assessed psychosocial needs of patient who most recently died: 68% preprogram, 85% follow-up, P = .01). Nearly all (90%) reported launching palliative care initiatives, and attributed their success to program participation. Respondents reported major improvements in confidence, commitment to palliative care, and enthusiasm for teaching. Eighty-two percent reported the experience as "transformative." CONCLUSIONS: This evidence of enduring change provides support for the potential of this educational model to have measurable impact on practices and professional development of physician and nurse educators. (+info)
Critical incidents in the teaching-learning process of a nursing course through the perception of students and faculty.
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The teaching-learning process is complex and leaves many question marks, mainly when one thinks about quality. Therefore, this study aims at identifying factors that interfere positively or negatively in the teaching-learning process, through the perspective of students and faculty of the Nursing course at the Universidade Norte do Parana- UNOPAR. This descriptive study with a qualitative approach was carried out through the critical incidents technique. Thirty-six faculty and 140 students participated. Data analysis revealed that the students mentioned 435 critical incidents related to the category faculty behavior, being 317 negative references and 118 positive. According to the faculty members' reports, the category interaction with the group produced 58 references, being 10 positive and 48 negative. An adequate teaching-learning process requires good faculty-student and student-student relationships, favoring good interaction and efficient learning. (+info)
Evaluation of a tobacco cessation curricular intervention among acute care nurse practitioner faculty members.
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BACKGROUND: In 2002, a report indicated that tobacco-related curricular content in educational programs for acute care nurse practitioners was insufficient. To provide healthcare professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to intervene with patients who smoke tobacco, the Summer Institute for Tobacco Control Practices in Nursing Education was implemented at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of a train-the-trainer program in which the Rx for Change: Clinician-Assisted Tobacco Cessation curriculum was used among faculty members of acute care nurse practitioner programs. METHODS: Thirty faculty members participated in the 2-day train-the-trainer program. Surveys were administered at baseline and 12 months after training to examine perceived effectiveness for teaching tobacco content, the value of using an evidence-based national guideline, and the number of hours of tobacco content integrated in curricula. RESULTS: The percentage of faculty members who devoted at least 3 hours to tobacco education increased from 22.2% to 74.1% (P<.001). Perceived effectiveness in teaching tobacco cessation also increased (P < .001), as did mean scores for the perceived value of using an evidence-based national guideline (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Use of the Rx for Change train-the-trainer program can enhance the level of tobacco education provided in acute care nurse practitioner programs. Widespread adoption of an evidence-based tobacco education in nursing curricula is recommended to help decrease tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. (+info)
Development and use of digital educative objects in nursing teaching.
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This paper describes a development project of digital learning objects in nursing, and the evaluation of their use by teachers and undergraduate nursing students. The strategies for their development were composed of the following stages: conceptual modeling, development of instructional materials, implementation in a virtual learning environment, and evaluation. This is an ongoing study and preliminary results demonstrate that teachers and students evaluated the design and the content of the nursing digital learning objects satisfactorily, but demonstrate difficulties in using them. The results point to the impact of innovation through the consolidation of the use of educational technologies integrated to the teaching of nursing, as well as a support program for teachers. (+info)
Barriers to scholarship in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy practice faculty.
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There has been an increased emphasis on scholarly activities by health sciences faculty members given the importance of the promotion of public health over the last 50 years. Consequently, faculty members are required to place greater emphasis on scholarly activities while maintaining their teaching and service responsibilities. This increasing requirement of scholarly activities has placed great demands on clinical practice faculty members and it has made their management of clinical practice, teaching responsibilities, and expectations for promotion and tenure a difficult task. This retrospective literature review identifies barriers to the scholarship activities of clinical faculty members in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy and discusses strategies for enabling faculty members to pursue scholarly activities in the current health science academic environment. The review indicates commonalities of barriers across these 4 disciplines and suggests strategies that could be implemented by all of these disciplines to enable clinical practice faculty members to pursue scholarly activities. (+info)
Symbiosis--undergraduate research mentoring and faculty scholarship in nursing.
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