Teaching Nursing Students During COVID-19
My new article with two of my colleagues has just been published to the New Jersey Nurse & Institute for Nursing Newsletter, July 2020. Happy reading!
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the landscape of nursing education is changing and evolving on a daily basis. On-ground nursing programs have been converted into an online format overnight. This change is a tall order, not just for nursing faculty, but for nursing students as well. So how, in this time of a pandemic, do nursing faculty promote ethics and integrity in students, while maintaining quality, and rigor in nursing programs to ensure student learning and adequate preparation for a future career in nursing?
Ethics is valued in nursing. All nursing students need to understand the concepts of ethics and integrity. This understanding encompasses the possibility of serving as the foundation upon which care can be based in the hospital setting. To be a nurse possessing integrity, one must be able to synthesize skill while engaging in practice. This pandemic has presented many ethical challenges forcing faculty to make hard decisions and question their values. Educators must always model ethical behavior. It is imperative that faculty decisions are consistent to guarantee fairness to students. These decisions, such as allowances we make for students, should be guided by ethical principles and executed across the board.
Regional and programmatic accreditors and state regulators require that nursing education programs maintain quality and rigor. Academic rigor refers to the result of having a curriculum that challenges students to grow in thought, knowledge, and skills. Program administrators and educators work from agreed-upon academic standards and pre-determined learning outcomes, by student level, for the protection of the general public and the institutions that graduates will serve.
During healthcare crises, it is imperative that nurse educators uphold standards of excellence and hold students to meeting set, achievement benchmarks. Faculty spend countless hours designing evidence-based syllabi. Assignments are carefully chosen to objectively measure learning outcomes. Extraneous, non-graded or low weight learning activities and assignments can be removed, but major formative assessments and signature assignments must remain.
Failing to maintain rigor could potentially impact all stakeholders:
Teaching Nursing Students During COVID-19
Mary Ann Siciliano McLaughlin EdD, MSN, RN, Tyshaneka Saffold PhD(c), MSN, RN, & Shelley A. Johnson, EdD, MSN, MBA, RN, NE-BC, CNE
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the landscape of nursing education is changing and evolving on a daily basis. On-ground nursing programs have been converted into an online format overnight. This change is a tall order, not just for nursing faculty, but for nursing students as well. So how, in this time of a pandemic, do nursing faculty promote ethics and integrity in students, while maintaining quality, and rigor in nursing programs to ensure student learning and adequate preparation for a future career in nursing?
Ethics is valued in nursing. All nursing students need to understand the concepts of ethics and integrity. This understanding encompasses the possibility of serving as the foundation upon which care can be based in the hospital setting. To be a nurse possessing integrity, one must be able to synthesize skill while engaging in practice. This pandemic has presented many ethical challenges forcing faculty to make hard decisions and question their values. Educators must always model ethical behavior. It is imperative that faculty decisions are consistent to guarantee fairness to students. These decisions, such as allowances we make for students, should be guided by ethical principles and executed across the board.
Regional and programmatic accreditors and state regulators require that nursing education programs maintain quality and rigor. Academic rigor refers to the result of having a curriculum that challenges students to grow in thought, knowledge, and skills. Program administrators and educators work from agreed-upon academic standards and pre-determined learning outcomes, by student level, for the protection of the general public and the institutions that graduates will serve.
During healthcare crises, it is imperative that nurse educators uphold standards of excellence and hold students to meeting set, achievement benchmarks. Faculty spend countless hours designing evidence-based syllabi. Assignments are carefully chosen to objectively measure learning outcomes. Extraneous, non-graded or low weight learning activities and assignments can be removed, but major formative assessments and signature assignments must remain.
Failing to maintain rigor could potentially impact all stakeholders:
- Students would not be able to be successful in their licensure examinations, resulting in loss of employment eligibility, loss of wage-earning potential, and high risk of loan default.
- The educational program could see low pass rates resulting in potential loss of accreditation and the right to have highly regulated programs, pre-licensure programs and some clinical graduate programs.
- The nursing program’s reputation could be damaged, leading to lower enrollments.
- Faculty violate personal and professional standards and values. Furthermore, they damage their credibility and brand.
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