Bridging the education-practice gap: Integration of current clinical practice into education on transitions to professional practice
View File(s)
- Author(s)
- Details
-
Cheryle G. Levitt, PhD, MSN, BSN, RN
- Sigma Affiliation
- Epsilon Phi
- Contributor Affiliation(s)
- The State University of New York at Delhi, Delhi, New York, USA
Visitor Statistics
Visits vs Downloads
Visitors - World Map
Top Visiting Countries
Country | Visits |
---|
Top Visiting Cities
City | Visits |
---|
Visits (last 6 months)
Downloads (last 6 months)
Popular Works for Levitt, Cheryle G. by View
Title | Page Views |
---|
Popular Works for Levitt, Cheryle G. by Download
Title | Downloads |
---|
View Citations
Citations
Session presented on Monday, July 28, 2014:
Purpose: There is an acknowledged gap between the content in undergraduate nursing education programs and the expected performance standards and roles of nursing in the healthcare setting. The continual changes in the healthcare system are not sufficiently reflected in basic nursing education, and the gap results in graduates that may not be sufficiently prepared for the current role expectations for nurses in various settings. Nursing education is charged with preparing graduates to integrate into reconceptualized roles that include areas such as collaboration, leadership, quality management, use of technology, and care management. The Institute of Medicine study on the Future of Nursing (2011) identifies this gap as an issue for improvement for nursing education in order to create an effective transition for graduate nurses to a range of practice settings. To address this, faculty in a RN-BSN program contacted clinicians in various healthcare settings to seek their input for topics to guide course development, in order to provide an opportunity for a direct connection from the field into the classroom. This descriptive study sought to bridge this gap by providing suggestions directly from practitioners in the field to contribute to course development in an online RN-BSN program, for a core course in transitions to professional practice. The study queried practitioners for the content topics they deem essential for nursing students to learn, in order to transition into professional nurses. A secondary purpose was to reveal and identify differences between clinicians vs. faculty recommendations for areas of content.
Methods: This study, approved by the university IRB, collected information via an electronic survey, from experienced BSN and MSN nurses (93% with > 5 years experience) in a diverse selection of roles and clinical areas, faculty currently teaching in a RN-BSN program, and graduates of a RN-BSN program. Clinical roles of participants included staff, preceptors, managers, and administrators in acute care facilities, both rural and metropolitan, in teaching and community hospital settings, long term care, and outpatient settings. Participants (total respondents: n=206) were asked to identify and prioritize, from a list of topics provided, the pertinent content areas to include in a core foundational course for transition to the roles of professional nursing. Topics were selected using standards for professional practice, evidence from the literature, and texts on professional practice. Participants were invited to add their own content ideas and further suggestions for the subject areas of the course.
Results: Results were analyzed with descriptive statistics and for differences, using a series of Kruskal Wallis tests. The survey was piloted prior to distribution. Participants were asked to choose their top ten topical areas and to rank them in order of priority. The top content areas were: accountability and autonomy; collaboration and coordination in caring; critical thinking, clinical reasoning; ethical principles and standards; evidence based practice; informatics and technology; leadership and management; professional communication; professional nursing concepts; quality improvement. No significant differences in mean importance rankings for any of the nursing curriculum topics were found according to age. A significant result was found for history of nursing (?=7.846, 2 df, p=.020) where it was found to be at the bottom of the ranked list, for leadership and management principles (?=14.061, 5 df, p=.029), for critical thinking, clinical reasoning (?=8.790, 2 df, p=.012) and for professional nursing concepts: philosophy, identity, standards, roles, behaviors (?=6.213, 2 df, p=.045). No significant differences in mean importance rankings were found according to highest degree earned by the participant, for geographic location, between rural and metropolitan groups, according to clinical setting, or between clinicians, faculty, and recent graduates. Significance for excluding nursing history, previously in the course, was highest among less experienced nurses.
Conclusion: The results identified priority content areas, that were combined with standards for baccalaureate education, and applied directly into course development for a core transitions to professional nursing course, as well as integrated into other courses within the program. The course was developed and launched within 4 months of the results of the study, thus providing rapid utilization of the results. The study sought to help to prepare nurses with realistic content that can assist them to be effective practitioners in the present and future healthcare environment, to reduce a gap between education and practice, and to provide faculty with the pertinent content to enable this outcome. The congruence in results between clinicians and faculty was gratifying. The faculty felt that the course was the most current possible, and was supported by clinicians who would likely be working with graduates of the program at a future date. It is recommended to use this collaborative approach for development of other courses in the baccalaureate curriculum.
International Nursing Research Congress, 2014 Theme: Engaging Colleagues: Improving Global Health Outcomes. Held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Items submitted to a conference/event were evaluated/peer-reviewed at the time of abstract submission to the event. No other peer-review was provided prior to submission to the Henderson Repository.
Type | Presentation |
Acquisition | Proxy-submission |
Review Type | Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host |
Evidence Level | |
Keywords | Theory Practice Gap; Transitions Professional Practice; Nursing Education Practice Gap |
Name | 25th International Nursing Research Congress |
Host | Sigma Theta Tau International |
Location | Hong Kong |
Date | 2014 |
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subjects.
-
Theory-practice gap: Perceptions of nurse faculty, nursing students, and clinicians in Ghana
Salifu, David Abdulai (2017-06-22)Purpose: The overall goal of this research work was to explore the understanding of theory-practice gap from the perspective of nurse faculty and nursing students in University for Development Studies, and clinicians ... -
Using a collaborative center for integrative reviews and evidence summaries to narrow the education-practice-research gap
Crawford, CeceliaThe overarching purpose of this dissertation project was to design a collaborative center for integrative reviews and evidence summaries (CCIRES) to advance the state of the art and science of nursing knowledge and narrow ... -
Building a technology toolkit: Application of technology in a graduate nursing program
Digger, Kirsty; Levitt, Cheryle G. (2017-10-10)Faculty developing a new graduate nursing program took a collective approach toward significant educational technology integration into an innovative graduate nursing education curriculum. Examples of specific educational ... -
Building scholarship: Graduate nursing research skills strengthened by technology
Levitt, Cheryle G. (2017-10-10)Graduate nursing research content includes advanced skills of synthesis and application of evidence to clinical practice. Technology, integrated into pedagogy and research content, can promote increased student comfort, ... -
Professional Identity in Nursing: Bridging the gap between nursing's professional identity and the profession's brand image
Brewington, Janice G.; Robinson, Marlo D.; Godsey, Judi Allyn; Hayes, Tom (Sigma Theta Tau InternationalInternational Society for Professional Identity in Nursing, 2020-12-15)Professional Identity in Nursing is a “sense of oneself, and in relationship with others, that is influenced by characteristics, norms, and values of the nursing discipline, resulting in an individual thinking, acting, ...