Are You Ready To Teach?

1. Are You Ready To Teach? Jennifer Couvillon, PhD, RN, CNE Director of Nurse Education Track Assistant Professor for Nursing Louisiana State University Health Science Center School of Nursing 1900 Gravier Street New Orleans, LA 70112 504-568-4185 504-77-5883

2. Presentation Objectives  1. Explore the results of a needs assessment for nurse educators in Louisiana. 2. Introduce a new Nurse Education track designed to balance the use of high tech educational delivery methods vs high touch diverse nursing content.

3. Purpose Louisiana State University Health Science Center School of Nursing has been assessing the community need for development of a new Masters in Nursing Education Track to prepare Nursing Educators. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the NEW Program and its fundamental scholarship in teaching.

4. Faculty Shortage 767 faculty vacancies were identified at 344 nursing schools with baccalaureate and/or graduate programs across the country. Besides the vacancies, schools cited the need to create an additional 43 faculty positions to accommodate student demand. The data show a national nurse faculty vacancy rate of 8.8% which translates into approximately 2.2 faculty vacancies per school (AACN, 2007) A serious shortage of nurse faculty was documented in all 16 identified Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states and the District of Columbia (SREB, 2002).

5. Initiatives to fill these faculty positions October 2006, AACN released an Issue Bulletin titled State Legislative Initiatives to Address the Nursing Shortage that describe loan forgiveness programs, faculty fellowships, and salary supplements, AACN and the California Endowment launched a new scholarship and mentorship program to increase the number of minority nursing faculty August 2005, the U.S. Secretary of Education designated nursing as an "area of national need" for the first time under the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need program June 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded more than $12 million in grant-funding through the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative, $3 million of which to help address the nurse faculty shortage. All of these efforts are aimed at encouraging nurses to consider a career in nursing education, with the goal of increasing the number of nursing educators to prepare students nurses to offer quality health care and to meet the nation’s growing and diverse needs. Our proposed Masters in Nursing Education track shares the same aim!

6. Need for Diversity and Caring Faculty AACN recently announced the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future (J&J) launch of a new national scholarship program designed to increase the number of nurse faculty from ethnic minority backgrounds in 2007. The J&J/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars program will provide financial assistance to underrepresented minority (URM) nursing students to facilitate the completion of graduate programs and diversify the nurse faculty population (ACN, 2007). In addition to diverse faculty and students, we also must support underprivileged nurse faculty. AACN’s latest data show that only 10.5% of full-time nurse faculty come from URM backgrounds.

7. Program Needs Assessment LSUHSC SON Masters program survey in 2001 showed students identified educational needs in three critical areas: a) computers to facilitate research projects, b) current literature, search databases and information via the Internet, and c) interactive software programs and simulation activities to supplement their didactic education. Additionally, students reported the need for more clinical laboratory space and resources to improve clinical laboratory educational experiences. Specific clinical laboratory resources request included simulated patient experiences and web-enhanced learning activities. A second needs assessment survey conducted in 2003 polled Louisiana RNs and revealed that 67% were interested in on-line educational programs of study. Adult learners have a wide variety of reasons for pursuing learning at a distance: constraints of time, distance, and finances, the opportunity to take courses or hear outside speakers who would otherwise be unavailable, and the ability to come in contact with other students from different social, cultural, economic, and experiential backgrounds (Willis, 1993). As a result, they gain not only new knowledge but also new social skills, including the ability to communicate and collaborate with widely dispersed colleagues and peers whom they may never have seen.

8. Program Needs Assessment A third assessment was performed during the summer of 2007, in which a telephone survey was conducted of the Directors of Nursing of all eight LSU Health Care Services Division medical center hospitals; all directors stated they had staff desirous of the opportunity for distance learning; furthermore, all indicated that the major equipment needed for distance learning was already in place and generally unused on weekends. Finally, in yet another needs assessment survey performed during the summer of 2007 by the SON, 133 nurses at the eight LSU state medical center hospitals were queried. A total of 80 (70.8%) expressed interest in pursing a BSN and 103 (92.8%) responded that distance learning would aid them in pursing their BSN. Eighty (76.9%) responded they were aware of BSNs who would be interested in a similar opportunity to pursue their MN degree.

9. New Master in Nursing Track The purpose of the program is to strategically prepare nurses to function as nurse educators in their respective clinical or educational settings.

10. Who should attend? Nurses who would like to enhance their teaching skills in clinical or academic settings Nurse educators in community colleges, diploma schools, or baccalaureate schools of nursing who would like to expand their knowledge and skills Staff educators and nursing administrators in hospitals, clinics, home care, or settings who have responsibility for designing and implementing educational programs Hospital or long term care staff nurses who are preceptors, or who are interested in precepting and/or mentoring new employees or conducting patient education activities.

11. Upon successful conclusion participants will be able to a.) Analyze historical and contemporary theoretical frameworks for nursing education b.) Examine issues related to the concept of critical thinking in nursing c.) Apply implementation and evaluation strategies in nursing education d.) Analyze the processes and tools most often utilized when teaching traditional and online theoretical and clinical nursing e.) Integrate the National League for Nursing education competencies for nurse educators into nursing practice.

12. Scholarship The teaching scholarship involved in the development of the program began with an evaluation of the nurse educator needs nationwide. The nurse educator role is multi-faceted and involves teaching, scholarly activities, research and community service. It is a role that many find challenging and rewarding. For this reason the new Masters in Nursing Education track complemented the vision of the SON at LSUHSC where the mission of the school is to achieve excellence in the professional nursing areas of teaching, scholarship, research and service. In addition, the scope of practice for nurse educators as defined by the National League for Nursing and the Nurse Educator Certification Exam offered the guidance for the program structure as well as curriculum.

13. Innovation The Education Track is an intensive master’s track, built on theory and skills presented in a baccalaureate program of nursing. Adult learning theory; content is presented in relation to nursing and education theory, curriculum development, critical thinking, leadership and educator roles, and traditional and online teaching strategies in nursing. Discussion of evaluation tools and processes to use in programs for nursing students or in staff development settings. Interactive activities integrated throughout the courses, designed to enhance learning through application of relevant concepts.

14. High Tech Component vs High Touch

15. Content and Convenience Two way video conferencing (synchronous class offerings through use of television cameras & monitors) Allows for real time face to face interaction with faculty & peers to promote active dialogue, mentoring, group cohesiveness. Computer web casting (synchronous class offerings through the use of computers, web casting, & internet) Allows for real time interaction with faculty & peers to promote active dialogue, mentoring, group cohesiveness. Threaded discussions (asynchronous discussion of case planning projects in conjunction with 2 way video conferencing or streaming)Allows students to chat with directed faculty input on case planning problems, promoting group learning and cohesiveness. Blackboard™ (on-line presentation & organization of course materials, on-line quiz administration, & online discussions through licensed software used in conjunction with 2 way video conferencing or video streaming)Allows students to access course materials (syllabi, notes, assignments, quizzes, etc.) 24 hrs/day, at a time convenient to the student. Video recording, archiving and accessing lectures via Blackboard™Allows students to access lecture demonstration 24 hrs a day at a time convenient to students as well as listen to a lecture downloaded to IPOD technology

16. Evaluation LSUHSC SON has a formal Systematic Program Evaluation Plan that is coordinated by the Evaluation Committee in collaboration with the Office of Nursing Research and Evaluation. The evaluation of the Masters in Nursing Education Track will be integrated into this evaluation plan. This plan has both formative and summative evaluation measures to assess structure, governance, material resources, faculty, curriculum, student/graduates, research and service.

17. Why LSUHSC School of Nursing The “High Tech, High Touch” component that is unique to this program at LSUHSC SON welcomes technology into the curriculum so that Masters students are prepared with this knowledge. The caring element and focus on disadvantaged and diverse faculty and students is a priority for the nursing profession nationwide and will help us to solve the nursing shortage while fundamentally offering nursing education and services to all populations.

18. Accreditation The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Nursing programs are approved by the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Through the SON Mission, Philosophy and core values, the MN program utilizes the following core values: respect, integrity, professionalism and excellence

19. Curriculum – One year Full Time

20. Application Contact : The Office of Student Affairs at 568-4200 and / or Jennifer Couvillon, PhD Program Director jcouvi@lsuhsc.edu For advisement , application deadline and to obtain a graduate program application visit our website at http://nursing.lsuhsc.edu Link below: http://nursing.lsuhsc.edu/AcademicPrograms/Graduate/MN/NewMNTrack.html

21. Admission Criteria Prerequisites: ▪ Advanced statistics (HLSC 6221 or equivalent) Admission Criteria · Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited nursing school · Grade Point Average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale · Miller Analogy Test or Graduate Record Examination · A minimum score of 550 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) for all applicants who have English as a second language or are not graduates of programs in the United States. · Three letters of reference · Essay/Goal Statement · Unencumbered Louisiana RN license · Minimum of 1-year experience in the area of specialization within the last five years. · An interview for enrollment may be requested

22. Tuition/Funding Information ◦ Financial Aid Office at LSUHSC (http://lsuhsc.edu) ◦ Federal Student Aid Information Center (http://studentaid.ed.gov) ◦ National Student Nurses Association (www.nsna.org) ◦ National Health Service Corps (http://nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov) ◦ Bureau of Health Professions, Division of Student Assistance (http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/dsa)

23. Welcome First Cohort First cohort admitted to the Masters in Nursing Education track will be in spring 2008. Classes will begin in May 2008 and under the full time curriculum the program can be completed in 1 academic year. The graduating masters in nursing education track student will be eligible to register for the National League for Nursing Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) Exam.