Seeking transformation: how students in nursing view their academic writing context – a qualitative systematic review

Writing practices in nursing education programs are situated in a tension-filled context resulting from competing medical-technical and relational nursing discourses. The goal of this qualitative meta-study is to understand, from the student perspective, how the context for writing in nursing is constructed and the benefits of writing to nursing knowledge development. A literature search using the CINHAL, Medline, ERIC, and Academic Search complete databases, using systematic methods identified 21 papers and dissertations which gathered qualitative interview or survey data from students in nursing at the pre-registration, continuing education, and graduate levels. The studies provided evidence that writing assignments promote professional identity development but overemphasis on writing mechanics when grading have a deleterious effect on learning and student engagement with writing. Relationship building with faculty should extend beyond what is needed to maximize grades. Suggestions for writing pedagogical reform are identified to facilitate a change in focus from mechanical-technical to transformative writing.

Nursing student and faculty competency improvement through a nurse-bridging program in Cambodia

BACKGROUND

An adequate number of high-quality nurses are a key factor for superior patient outcomes. However, in 2015, Cambodia reported only 52 nurses with bachelor's degrees, three with master's degrees, and one with a doctorate. The fast track to getting a highly educated nursing workforce requires providing a bridging program for associate's degree nurses to achieve baccalaureate degrees.

OBJECTIVES

To assess improvement in the competency of nursing students and faculty members through a program that prepares associate's degree nurses to obtain bachelor's degrees in Cambodia.

DESIGN

Mixed methods.

SETTING

Educational institutes in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 45 Cambodian nursing students participated in the Cambodian nurse-bridging program and 12 Cambodian faculty members served as co-teachers.

METHODS

We conducted three surveys to compare the competence of nursing students and faculty members before, during, and after the bridging program. We conducted focus-group interviews to support the qualitative results and explored changes in student and faculty competencies after the program.

RESULTS

Quantitative analysis revealed significant improvements in students' nursing competency (p < .001), critical thinking (p < .001), and research competency (p < .001) and faculty members' teaching competency (p < .001) and research competency (p < .001) after the program. Through qualitative analysis, students showed improvement in physical assessment, patient communication, critical thinking, evidence-based nursing, and research competency. Faculty members indicated they had experienced new teaching strategies and subjects, gained increased confidence in teaching, and even though research competency had been improved, more training was required.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence to support the effectiveness of higher nurse education in developing countries, and illustrates an opportunity to produce high-quality human resources in nursing.

A 5-Year Evaluation of Faculty Use of Practical Within-Course Writing Development Strategies in a DNP Program

BACKGROUND

Nursing students are underprepared for the rigors of graduate writing. The lack of sufficient writing opportunities and skill development in prelicensure nursing education creates barriers that threaten course and program progression.

APPROACH

This study used a prospective, repeated-measures design to evaluate 5 years of faculty-implemented writing development strategies in a DNP program.

OUTCOMES

Faculty adopted 12 strategies in 10 courses. The strategies addressed skill building in content, construction, format, plagiarism, and citation use. The most frequently used strategies were rubrics, plagiarism detection software, multistep assignments, and examples of well-written papers, all strategies that increased in use over the 5-year study.

CONCLUSIONS

Graduate faculty interact with students and assess writing development outcomes firsthand. Changes in faculty practices over time can indicate the strategies they consider most valuable for writing development.

Advancing scholarly writing of baccalaureate nursing students using the knowledge, skills, and attitude self-assessment for writing development

BACKGROUND

Baccalaureate nursing students often demonstrate basic oral and written communication skills and have varying levels of skill with scholarly writing. Current instructional approaches may not fully prepare students for scholarly writing expectations.

OBJECTIVE

To determine undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students' self-assessed ability to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of scholarly writing.

DESIGN

Quantitative correlational descriptive study.

SETTING

Undergraduate nursing programs in the United States.

PARTICIPANTS

A convenience sample of baccalaureate nursing students in the United States.

METHODS

A national sample of 125 undergraduate nursing students self-assessed their use of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of scholarly writing over a two-month period. The project also sought to determine the association between writing knowledge, skills and attitudes and demographic variables of baccalaureate nursing students.

RESULTS

Participants believe they know the basic components of scholarly writing. However, they have difficulty using abstract components of writing such as managing the emotional aspect associated with writing. Select personal and demographic variables were not associated with scholarly writing self-assessment, indicating that other factors may influence scholarly writing development.

CONCLUSION

Teaching and learning strategies that incorporate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes associated with scholarly writing can be used to advance current instructional approaches and ultimately, better facilitate writing development in baccalaureate nursing students. Self-assessments can be used to identify ongoing student development needs for scholarly writing and can direct writing instruction.

Problem in the profession: How and why writing skills in nursing must be improved

As a profession, nursing is obligated to disseminate knowledge by publishing research in the professional literature. Beyond producing scholarly work for publication, nurses need writing skills to complete doctoral dissertations and scholarly projects, and to succeed in obtaining funds for new nurse-directed business ventures. Ultimately, good writing skills are essential for the future of the nursing profession. In this article, we describe the critical role of writing in nursing, and offer a practical 10-point strategy for improving the writing ability of individual advanced practice nurses who need to improve their writing skills. This article also offers suggestions for increasing nursing's surveillance of nurses' writing skills such as increasing the emphasis on writing instruction as a priority in today's nursing graduate school curriculum, greater writing support for nurses who are writing dissertations and scholarly projects, evaluating writing programs, and monitoring the completion rate of nursing dissertations.