College of Nursing: Preparing nurses to meet the challenges of the 21st-century workplace
If ever there was a time to enter the nursing profession or advance within it, it’s now. The nursing field has been undergoing vast changes this millennium, and these changes are creating a high demand for nurses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that nursing is expected to see a 22 percent employment growth rate until 2018 — faster than the average among other professions (BLS, 2011).
The reasons for the demand? Several sources attribute it to these trends:
- We’ve been experiencing a nurse shortage across the country since 1998 (Schiff, 2006).
- Boomer-age nurses retiring from the profession are fueling the need to replace these positions (BLS, 2011).
- The same phenomena is happening as retirement creates a demand for nursing faculty, which has its own existing shortage (Schiff, 2006; BLS, 2011).
- With an aging population, there will be an increased need for nursing care (BLS, 2011).
- Health care technologies are enabling better care and treatment, translating into more patients (BLS, 2011).
Preparing for these immense changes and challenges falls to nursing schools across the country to teach new and diverse skill sets to the next generation of nursing professionals. University of Phoenix College of Nursing is meeting those changes and challenges head on, turning them into opportunities to help its nursing students excel.
Seeing 21st-century workplace challenges as opportunities
It now takes more than traditional bedside nursing skills to be an effective nurse. A new set of high-demand skills is emerging, such as teamwork, critical thinking and leadership. Skills like these are referred to as “21st-century skills,” and they’re among the 12 that University of Phoenix has identified — based on external research — as crucial to the modern workplace, including health care settings.
To prepare its nursing students to be effective and successful in this evolving reality, the College of Nursing uses a combination of simulation labs, virtual and traditional clinical experiences, practitioner faculty, social media techniques, and curriculum based on evidence-based practice — all of which incorporate elements of the 21st-century skills that are most relevant to the nursing profession.
Curriculum and practitioner faculty
When developing or redesigning its curriculum, the College of Nursing maps to the recommendations for nursing education that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issues every five years. The College is in the process of updating its curriculum based on the most recent IOM report from October 2010 — incorporating the latest information, as well as new multimedia components and personalized assignments.
“Our curriculum uses the most up-to-date, evidence-based practice to emulate realistic situations with the most ethical, cultural and collaborative decision making possible,” says Janeen Dahn, MSN, FNP, Associate Dean of the College of Nursing.
“Evidence-based practice is designed to help nurses, novice or expert, to make the best decisions possible to meet the needs of the patient, family or community,” says Pam Fuller, Ed.D., RN, Dean of the College of Nursing. “It requires nurses to keep current in their practice area including medication administration. Medicine and nursing practices change rapidly, and nurses need to continue learning to keep fully informed as they make critical decisions.”
The updated curriculum also offers flexibility that accommodates how more students are learning: interactively — both with the technology and with each other. “Matching technologies to the curriculum and course material creates exciting opportunities for students to learn,” says Fuller.
“Multimedia includes podcasts and vignettes from well-known leaders in the profession, virtual excursions and interactive tutorials,” explains Dahn. “In addition, students can choose from assignments that cater to their personal interests, learning styles or areas of needed improvement. The new platform allows for social and cross-cultural interaction among classmates around the world.”
The College of Nursing’s practitioner faculty introduces a teaching tool not often found at other institutions — being able to incorporate current, real-life field experiences into the classroom. This not only bolsters the theory found in the curriculum, it also helps students understand how to apply that theory to the 21st-century workplace.
“They’re wonderfully experienced educators who help students understand the principles of patient care, as well as the values of the profession,” says Fuller.
Learning teams
Patient care today is more encompassing, and can often involve a multidisciplinary team of professionals, from physicians to nurses to therapists to pharmacists and beyond. They help provide a 360-degree view of a patient’s care; to provide the best care, intradisciplinary collaboration among the providers is necessary.
The College of Nursing uses learning teams that help foster communication and collaboration, because communicating effectively with each other and with other health care professionals is key to improving patient outcomes. Class assignments encourage students to collaborate on projects and presentations. Each team member is accountable for his or her productivity — from actively participating in group discussions and meetings to completing assigned portions of team assignments. It’s often through learning teams that leadership skills can emerge, brought out by the roles they play.
Clinical experience and nursing simulation labs
Simulation labs (for LVN/LPN to BSN programs) and post-licensure clinical experiences (across all RN to BSN and MSN programs) foster creative, innovative thought by putting nursing students into life-like or hands-on situations in which they hone their problem-solving skills and make swift decisions using what they’ve learned.
At the LPN/LNV to BSN level, simulation labs develop critical thinking and ethical decision making skills by recreating critical care-giving situations in which nurses must think and act in real time. The labs are currently available at the Phoenix, Honolulu, Modesto and Denver campuses.
“Using technology, an instructor can demonstrate what can actually happen in real life,” explains Fuller. “Plus, simulation labs provide a safe place for students to practice without harming a live patient. Labs allow for students to reflect on their decisions and find confidence in their future decisions.”
RN to BSN nursing students put their decision-making and critical-thinking skills to immediate use in their clinicals. They’re encouraged to choose the health care settings they prefer that relate to their area of interest. The MSN clinical — called a practicum — is more advanced, with either an education or management focus. Students are tasked with creating a project for a health care organization in which they incorporate what they’ve learned from their MSN program.
The road ahead
The demand for nurses exists at all levels, from entry-level to doctoral-prepared nurse professionals. So even nurses who’ve been practicing for a long time have plenty of opportunities to advance their education in order to pursue higher-level nursing roles, or branch off into a specialty such as geriatrics or informatics.
“University of Phoenix prepares nurses at many levels,” says Fuller. “As nurses continue to enter retirement, we have a responsibility to help fulfill the demand for nurses at all levels. Our College has not seen a downsize in student enrollment, even with the state of the economy. Current nurses have a wealth of career opportunities with the older nurses retiring. This is an exciting time to advance within the nursing field.”
References
Schiff, E. (2006). Preparing the health workforce. Issue paper released by the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.
The LPN/LVN to BSN degree programs are currently offered at the following campuses: Denver, CO; Honolulu, HI; Modesto, CA; and Phoenix, AZ.
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 530, Washington, DC 20036-1120, 202-887-6791, www.aacn.nche.edu.
