The message coming out of 果酱视频鈥檚 Nursing Leadership Conference on May 1, 2019, was that the profession needs
to take action to protect and improve its reputation, but that nursing schools also need to produce graduates better able to live up to that reputation.
The message coming out of on May 1, 2019, was that the profession needs to take action to protect and improve its reputation, but that nursing schools also need to produce graduates better able to live up to that reputation.
The 15th annual Leadership Conference, cosponsored by the 果酱视频 and Sigma Theta Tau International鈥檚 Alpha Omega Chapter, took place at The Garden City Hotel.
Morning talks by Patricia Benner, PhD鈥攑rofessor emerita, University of California San Francisco, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and currently chief faculty development officer of EducatingNursesVideos.com鈥攁nd Patricia Hooper Kyriakidis, PhD, NovEx Novice to Expert Learning, Nashville, Tennessee鈥攅mphasized that we are graduating students who are book- smart but ill-prepared to live up to the challenges of the profession.
鈥淎ll leaders in healthcare are riding white water these days,鈥� Dr. Benner said, speaking via live video. 鈥淭hings are changing very, very fast.鈥�
In a highly competitive and rapidly changing technological environment, she said, students are learning the facts of the field but they鈥檙e not learning how to think on their feet, she said. As a simplified example, she noted that someone can be taught how to take a patient鈥檚 blood pressure in 10 minutes but that doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檒l know how to evaluate the indications of the result. Classroom learning also doesn鈥檛 prepare students for working long hours or early morning shifts, she said, or to respond quickly to crisis situations.
Dr. Benner likened the dual demands of crisis response and technological expertise to being 鈥渟omewhere between fighting forest fires and space travel鈥� and said that the profession needs to take ownership of evaluating and publicizing its value and its growth.
Industry leaders need to 鈥済ive public language to what we鈥檙e accomplishing,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 dangerous for nursing to be invisible.鈥�
In a talk titled 鈥淧reparing Practice-Ready Nurses: A Mandate for the Future鈥� following Dr. Benner鈥檚 videoconference, Dr. Kyriakidis underscored the lack of practical training for nursing students. She emphasized the problems it can cause them on their first job when they鈥檙e seen as not being ready for the job.
鈥淭he stress and alienation that occurs when younger nurses aren鈥檛 practice-ready becomes personalized, rather than understanding that the training was not there,鈥� she said.
Dr. Kyriakidis has written extensively about practice-readiness and in her talk acknowledged Dr. Benner鈥檚 work on the subject. She specifically cited a 2009 Carnegie Study co-authored by Dr. Benner, titled 鈥淓ducating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation,鈥� that identified the shortcomings in classroom education. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 changed the way we teach鈥� in the decade since the study was published, she noted.
Lab simulation classes need to include unprompted, unfolding patient situations based on real cases and conducted without prompting questions, she said. Students need to learn on their feet, she stressed. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 set the students up to problem-solve, we will not produce practice-ready nurses.鈥�
For further information, please contact:
Todd Wilson
Strategic Communications Director听
p 鈥� 516.237.8634
e 鈥� twilson@adelphi.edu