Tag: critical thinking

Developing Clinical Judgment in an Online Environment

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Perhaps the most critical challenge we face is to ensure that our graduates are competent when making clinical judgements appropriate for novice nurses. Developing this competence has always been important—after all, effective clinical judgment is what keeps the clients we serve safe. However, the implementation of the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) in 2023 has brought this need into prominence. At the same time, the pandemic has created the need to deliver more instruction for nursing students in an online format. Let’s look at four principles to help us achieve the outcomes of developing novice nurses who make effective clinical judgment the core of their nursing practice, all of which can be implemented in an online setting. Continue reading “Developing Clinical Judgment in an Online Environment”

Highlights from the new NCSBN Report on Quality Indicators for Nursing Programs

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

COVID-19 has changed how nurse educators prepare students for practice. The changes in the health care environment—and nursing specifically—over the last decade have given faculty numerous challenges: integration of important new content in an already “stuffed” curriculum, evolving expectations of students, parents and college administrators, and the difficulty in finding appropriate clinical sites and sufficient numbers of faculty. As if these challenges weren’t enough, now faculty must cope with an international pandemic that has huge implications personally and professionally. In addition to their other responsibilities, faculty now must prepare students for practice using masks, social distancing, and limited clinical sites-all while working from home!

One thing, however, has not changed. Continue reading “Highlights from the new NCSBN Report on Quality Indicators for Nursing Programs”

Testing Online in the Era of Social Distancing

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Most of us have been coping, both personally and professionally, with the results of social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While we would like life to return to “normal,” we also worry about the health impact of returning to our “face-to-face” lives.  Equally important, when this crisis passes, what will the new normal look like? Continue reading “Testing Online in the Era of Social Distancing”

Evaluating Online Discussions

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Online discussion boards provide the most effective learning when students are given the opportunity to demonstrate higher order thinking skills. Regardless of the topic of discussion, students must be able to demonstrate that they can: Continue reading “Evaluating Online Discussions”

Online Learning: Creating a Caring Environment that Encourages Critical Thinking

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

The impact of the coronavirus is being felt everywhere.  As I write this, schools, colleges, and universities across the country are temporarily closed and planning to move classes to online instruction when they reopen. For faculty in nursing programs, this directive is manageable, as many face-to-face courses involve some level of interaction online. However, as I talk to faculty from across the country, I hear concerns regarding the loss of a caring learning environment among students and faculty in courses delivered only online. I also hear concerns that implementing teaching-learning strategies to stimulate critical thinking is more difficult in an online environment that in face-to-face instruction. Perhaps during this national emergency it would be helpful for all of us to think about “best practices” for online instruction, particularly those that involve creating a caring environment that encourages critical thinking. Continue reading “Online Learning: Creating a Caring Environment that Encourages Critical Thinking”

W.A.I.T.: Impact on Teaching Clinical Judgment

by Susan Sportsman, RN, PhD, ANEF, FAAN

After being a faculty for many years, I find that I often want to “instruct” my family and friends. This urge is particularly prevalent with my husband. Being a very nice man, when I begin to “instruct” him, he appears to be listening (he looks my way), but the look in his eyes says very clearly,  “I have no intention of doing whatever it is that she is saying.” When I see this look, I always say, “W.A.I.T.—Why Am I Talking?” Continue reading “W.A.I.T.: Impact on Teaching Clinical Judgment”

The Engaged Student: Reading with Purpose

by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Educational research has consistently found that if students are engaged in the learning process, they are more likely to be successful in developing the identified competencies. For the last 10 years or so, nursing educators have Continue reading “The Engaged Student: Reading with Purpose”

The Complex Challenge of Improving NCLEX Pass Rates

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

The September 2017 Collaborative Momentum Consulting blog “What were the program’s NCLEX scores this year?” sparked a considerable amount of Continue reading “The Complex Challenge of Improving NCLEX Pass Rates”

Interprofessional Education: Getting Initiatives Off the Ground

by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

The rapidly changing health care landscape increasingly requires caregivers to provide evidence-based, interprofessional care and to prepare students to exhibit these competencies upon graduation. To underscore this requirement, educational and practice accrediting bodies expect Continue reading “Interprofessional Education: Getting Initiatives Off the Ground”

Concept Based Curriculum in Nursing Education: What do we know?

by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

For the last fifteen years, nurse educators have struggled to offer a curriculum that prepares students for successful practice after graduation (and success on the NCLEX examination), without falling into the trap of Continue reading “Concept Based Curriculum in Nursing Education: What do we know?”