Enacting Connectedness in Nursing Education (article)
McGregor, Alix. Enacting Connectedness in Nursing Education. Nursing Education Perspectives, Mar/Apr 2005, Vol. 26, Issue 2, p 90-05
This article discusses how failure or its threat contributes to a high level of stress in nursing students, and how much of this stress is the result of inappropriate, and even abusive behavior by nursing faculty. The article draws a link between the maltreatment of nursing students by faculty, and the high rate of attrition from nursing programs. (p 91).
It's very good to see some academic discussion of nursing's longstanding tradition of eating its young. The pervasiveness of this practice is part of what encouraged me to pursue my degree through distance education -- although, as I mentioned in my last post today, some of the clinical educators I encountered while completing my performance exam seemed intent on making up for as much lost time as possible.
I'll cite this article in my reflective paper, as it helps to inform a concern I have about how to perform the training. Mike mentioned that in the past, some of the nurses have resisted learning the skill, stating, "we're nurses, we don't intubate". While that's usually true, it's not the case in the transport setting. However, it's a low-frequency, high-risk skill, and the nurses are justified in having some misgivings about being responsible for it.
I'd like this training to result in the nurses being better prepared and more confident when they go out on a transport. My concern is that the nurses will instead be intimidated, and part company with the service. Worse yet, I'm concerned that the medical director will wink at the whole thing and just sign the nurses off before they become competent, playing the odds that they will never have to perform the skill. While I would hope to never be abusive, the critical nature of the skill and the potential resistance of the staff mean that I am going to have to walk a fine line to be both supportive and effective.
This article discusses how failure or its threat contributes to a high level of stress in nursing students, and how much of this stress is the result of inappropriate, and even abusive behavior by nursing faculty. The article draws a link between the maltreatment of nursing students by faculty, and the high rate of attrition from nursing programs. (p 91).
It's very good to see some academic discussion of nursing's longstanding tradition of eating its young. The pervasiveness of this practice is part of what encouraged me to pursue my degree through distance education -- although, as I mentioned in my last post today, some of the clinical educators I encountered while completing my performance exam seemed intent on making up for as much lost time as possible.
I'll cite this article in my reflective paper, as it helps to inform a concern I have about how to perform the training. Mike mentioned that in the past, some of the nurses have resisted learning the skill, stating, "we're nurses, we don't intubate". While that's usually true, it's not the case in the transport setting. However, it's a low-frequency, high-risk skill, and the nurses are justified in having some misgivings about being responsible for it.
I'd like this training to result in the nurses being better prepared and more confident when they go out on a transport. My concern is that the nurses will instead be intimidated, and part company with the service. Worse yet, I'm concerned that the medical director will wink at the whole thing and just sign the nurses off before they become competent, playing the odds that they will never have to perform the skill. While I would hope to never be abusive, the critical nature of the skill and the potential resistance of the staff mean that I am going to have to walk a fine line to be both supportive and effective.
posted by Nurse Cha at 12:43 PM
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