Clinical Scholar Connection with Baccalaureate Education

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Primary Author:</td>
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Amalia M. Belcher, RN, MSN, CNL</td>
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Co-Principal Investigators/Collaborators:</td>
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<p align="left">Kimberly Elgin, MSN, RN, CMSRN, CNS, Kathleen Rea, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, CNL, Aileen Feola, RN, BSN, Jacqueline Roper, RN AD, Julie Garnett, RN, BSN</p>
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Organization:</td>
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University of Virginia Medical Center</td>
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Abstract</h2>
<h3>
Purpose</h3>
<p>Nurses skilled in clinical practice and teaching, yet lacking traditional academic faculty preparation, are untapped resources. A pilot project for baccalaureate education was designed as an adaptation of the Dedicated Teaching Unit concept presented in the literature. Rather than designating geographic teaching units, Registered Nurses were designated to collaborate with faculty as Clinical Scholars to promote individualized clinical instruction and the translation of evidence based practice to care provision.</p>
<h3>
Background</h3>
<p align="left">Health care and professional nursing in the United States look vastly different than in the 1960s. Yet nurses continue to be educated using the traditional inpatient clinical instruction model of one clinical faculty teaching eight nursing students. Increased demand for highly skilled, baccalaureate prepared nurses and clinical faculty requires that we explore new methods of clinical instruction. </p>
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Materials & Methods</h3>
<p align="left">Nurses had the opportunity to become a Clinical Scholar through a written application process. Participants were provided resources and attended a four hour retreat prior to the start of the Fall and Spring semesters. The retreats focused on the classroom to clinical connection and techniques were emphasized for Clinical Scholars to invest in student application of evidence based practice for care delivery. </p>
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Results</h3>
<p>90% of the Clinical Scholars participated in program evaluation. 100% strongly agreed that the program curriculum and experience contributed to increased job satisfaction. Following both semesters, all students who responded reported that the program reinforced evidence based practice. Qualitative themes from student evaluations included value-added learning, support, and testing of their care planning and critical thinking. Patient safety within this learning model was continuously monitored. There were no adverse events during this pilot.</p>
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Conclusion</h3>
<p>The Clinical Scholars program establishes a new structure for undergraduate nursing student clinical education that promotes evidence based practice and patient safety. It provides a framework which may be applied to varied curricula, and there are current plans for further evaluation and expansion of this model to other practice settings within the organization.</p>
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Bibliography</h3>
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<p>© Improvement Science Research Network, 2012</p>
<p>The ISRN published this as received and with permission from the author(s).</p>