Nursing Scholarship

Registered Nurses in academia are responsible for engaging in scholarship and advancing nursing knowledge. Research focuses on the Scholarship of Discovery – building on a scientific body of knowledge, the Scholarship of Teaching – a desire to understand how students learn and how teaching influences this process (Allen & Field, 2005), the Scholarship of Application – the advancement of knowledge related to expert practice, and/or the Scholarship of Integration – the development of new insights as a result of integrative, interdisciplinary and synthesizing work (Boyer, 1990).

NIC’s BSN faculty and students are actively involved in many community-based research initiatives to advance science, teaching and practice. A few of these projects are highlighted below.

References

Allen, M.N., & Field, P.A. (2005). Scholarly teaching and scholarship of teaching: Noting the difference. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 2(1), 5–23.

Boyer, E. L. (1990). Scholarship revisited: Priorities of the professoriate. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Understanding Transformational Learning: A Journey within an Indigenous Research Paradigm

students and faculty gather to share perspectives

NIC Bachelor of Science in Nursing instructors, we experience and hear from students, anecdotally, that learning to become a nurse at NIC can result in significant personal change. This research project aims to discover more about this transformation process and the influence of transformative learning within the nursing program.

By documenting and analyzing the transformation in students’ perspectives, values, beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, behaviours, and the process that shifted their perspectives, we hope to:

  • Explore new understandings of the role of transformative learning within the classroom
  • Develop additional cultural experiences and indigenous pedagogy within the classroom and practice
  • Continue to create curriculum, culture and leadership within our academic institution that includes Indigenous and other student cultures
  • Engage students and faculty in research
  • Create additional program evaluation tools
  • Share knowledge gained

Researchers

  • Joanna Fraser
  • Fourth year nursing students, graduates, and faculty

Using an unfolding case study as contextual learning: supporting novice nursing students to ‘think like a nurse’

nursing students work with a human patient simulator

Nursing students have learned psychomotor skills in isolation from the context in which they are practiced.

This project introduces an unfolding case to support critical thinking and clinical decision making skills in student nurses.

Throughout the semester, the unfolding case study utilizes a blend of live actors and human patient simulators as students learn to care for a patient with chronic health challenges through admission and hospitalization. The patient’s clinical situation is designed to be realistic and challenging, presenting students with unpredictable and incomplete assessment data.

The research aims to understand:

  • How contextual learning, specifically an unfolding patient case can affect students’ ability to care for complex patients earlier in their education.
  • The impact of combining theory, assessments, relational practice and psychomotor skills on students capacity to provide client-centred care.
  • How a shift to contextual learning might support novice students in managing the gap between practice and theory.

Researchers

  • Martha Russell, RN, MN, Jan Meiers, RN, MN
    Martha Russell and Jan Meiers are BSN faculty members at NIC. They have presented their work related to the creative use of simulation to enhance nursing education at conferences across in Western Canada and will be presenting in Atlanta, Georgia in June 2015.

Documenting a rural communities’ shift from primary to collaborative prenatal care group pregnancy project

The Group Pregnancy project is an innovative care model designed to promote safety, efficiency, effectiveness, timeliness and culturally appropriate care to women and their families during the prenatal and immediate post-partum periods.

Instead of seeing a primary care provider in an exam room, women see primary care providers, nurse/educators, and peers together throughout their term to reduce barriers and create more positive experiences for families and practitioners. Evidence is now emerging this model indicates greater client satisfaction, effective care delivery, and better health outcomes, such as lower rates of preterm birth.

Our research sought to capture qualitative data from families and practitioners about their experiences with this shift in practice over three years.

Researchers

  • RaeAnn Hartman, RN, MA - Principal Investigator
  • Rachel Goodliffe, RN, MN (c) - Co-investigator
  • Lynne Oberik, RN, MN - Co-investigator
  • Dan Woodrow, RN, MSN - Co-investigator

Publications

  • Centering Healthcare Institute. (2009). Model overview. Retrieved November 3, 2009 from www.centeringhealthcare.org
  • Massey, Z., Rising, S., & Ickovics, J. (2006). Centering Pregnancy Group Prenatal Care: Promoting Relationship-Centered Care. Journal of Obstetric, Gynaecologic, & Neonatal Nursing: Clinical Scholarship for the Care of Women, Childbearing Families, & Newborns, 35(2), 286-294. doi:10.1111/j.1552-6909.2006.00040.x.
  • Reid, J. (2007). Centering pregnancy: a model for group prenatal care. Nursing for Women's Health, 11(4), 382-388. Retrieved from CINAHL with Full Text database.
  • Schindler Rising, S. (1998). Centering pregnancy: An interdisciplinary model of empowerment. Journal of Nurse-Midwifery, 43(1), 46-54.
  • Thielen, K. (2012). Exploring the group prenatal care model: A critical review of the literature. The Journal of Perinatal Education, 21(4), 209-218.

Partners

  • Success by Six Grant
  • Seawatch Medical Clinic
  • Birthtides
  • Plum Midwifery

The adoption and normalization of mobile technology in nursing education

a mobile device attached to a portable keyboard

This study is part of an ongoing research on mobile learning by Dr. Kenny, Dr. Park, Dr. Van Neste-Kenny, Ms. Burton, and Ms. Doyle from BCIT who joined the team two years ago.

Studies to date develop knowledge about how mobile learning effectively supports the teaching and learning of nursing students in education and in nursing practicums. It finds mobile learning supports more situated, experiential and contextualized learning and affords the use of up-to-date and accurate content and information. In practice education, it has the potential to bring instructors, peers, and resources together virtually at the point-of-care to support the students’ safety and evidence-informed practice.

This study addresses faculty and students might adopt and normalize mobile learning technology in nursing education.

It aims to understand:

  • The factors that influence nursing faculty and students in their decision-making concerning the adoption of mobile devices in their teaching and learning.
  • How nursing faculty and students make sense of, grasp the potential benefits and importance of, mobile device use in their program.
  • How nursing faculty and students might implement and support the use of mobile devices in their program.

Researchers

  • Dr. Richard Kenny, Principal Investigator now retired as an Associate Professor with the Center for Distance Education at Athabasca University, where he taught instructional design and learning theory. His research interests include instructional design and change agency, emerging technologies to foster higher order thinking, and mobile learning applications and strategies.
  • Dr. Caroline Park, Co-Investigator is a Professor, and Chair, in Graduate Programs with the Centre for Nursing and Health Studies at Athabasca University. Her research interests include technology enhanced clinical education, mobile learning and online education and teaching strategies.
  • Dr. Jocelyne Van Neste-Kenny, Co-Investigator now retired as the Dean, School of Health and Human Services at North Island College in Courtenay, British Columbia. Her research interests include practice education models, emerging technologies in practice education, and interprofessional education. She continues to participate on the mobile learning research team.
  • Ms. Pamela Burton RN MN, Co-Investigator is an instructor with the Collaboration for Academic Education in Nursing Program (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) at North Island College. Her research interests include the use of mobile technologies in nursing education and transformational learning.
  • Glynda Doyle RN MSN, Co-Investigator is an instructor in the BSN Program at BCIT. She is particularly interested in the impact of mobile and educational technologies on nursing student’s clinical judgment and decision-making, and the integration of clinical health informatics into nursing education.

Publications

  • Kenny, R.F., Van Neste‐Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A. Park, C.L. & Qayyum, A. (2012). Using self‐efficacy to assess the readiness of nursing educators and students for mobile learning. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13(3), 277‐296
  • Kenny, R.F., Van Neste‐Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A. & Park, C.L., (2012, March). Mobile Self‐Efficacy in Canada: A Nursing Education Program. Paper in conference proceedings and presentation at the IADIS Mobile Learning 2012 (ML 2012) Conference. Berlin, Germany.
  • Park, C.L., Kenny, R.F., Van Neste‐Kenny, J.M.C., & Burton, P.A. (2012, January). Returning pedagogy to the field through mobile technology, Presentation at Educause Showcase, Austin, TX
  • Burton, P.A., Van Neste‐Kenny, J.M.C., Park, C.L. & Kenny, R.F. (2012). Teaching and learning in a digital world: WHERE DO WE NEED TO GO? Presentation at Collaboration for Academic Education in Nursing Conference, Yellowknife, NT.
  • Parks, C.L., Van Neste‐Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A., and Kenny, R.F. (2010). A Model of Mobile Faculty Presence in Nursing Education Practice. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics (CJNI), 5(3), 21‐42
  • Kenny, R.F., Park, C.L., Van Neste‐Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A. (2010). Mobile self‐efficacy in Canadian nursing education programs. Paper in conference proceedings and presentation at mLearn2010, the 9th World Conference on Mobile Learning, Malta.
  • Park, C.L., Van Neste‐Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A., & Kenny, R.F. (2009, May). The use of mobile technology as a link to students during indirect clinical supervision. Presentation at the second International Conference of the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education. Ottawa, ON.
  • Kenny, R.F., Park, C.L, Van Neste‐Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A., and Meiers, J. (2009). Mobile learning in nursing practice education: Applying Koole's FRAME model. Journal of Distance Education, 23(3).
  • Kenny, R.F., Park, C.L., Van Neste-Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A., & Meiers, J. (2009). Using mobile learning to enhance the quality of nursing practice education. In M. Ally (Ed.), Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training. Athabasca, AB: Athabasca University Press.
  • Kenny, R.F., Park, C.L., Van Neste-Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A., & Meiers, J. (2008, October). The feasibility of using mobile devices in nursing practice education. Article in Conference proceedings and presentation at the 7th World Conference on Mobile Learning, Shropshire, England.
  • Park, C.L., Meiers, J., Van Neste-Kenny, J.M.C., Burton, P.A., & Kenny, R.F. (2007, August). Using mobile learning to improve the quality of nursing practice education. Paper presented at the 3rd Annual Nursing Education Conference, Negotiating Techno-Turbulence in Nursing Education and Practice, Calgary, AB.
  • Kenny, R.F., Park, C.L., Burton, P.A., Meiers, J. & Van Neste-Kenny, J.M.C. (2007, May). Mobile learning to enhance nursing practice education. Paper presented at the joint annual meeting of the Canadian Association for Distance Education and the Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada, Winnipeg, MB.
  • Kenny, R.F., Park, C.L., Burton, P.A., Meiers, J. & Van Neste-Kenny, J.M.C. (2006, April). Mobile Learning to Enhance Nursing Practice Education. Paper in conference proceedings and presentation at first International Conference of the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education. Banff, AB.

Contact CARTI

Naomi Tabata
Manager, Centre for Applied Research, Technology and Innovation