Nursing Dissertations

Nursing education faces many obstacles in order to support the novice academic nurse educator. The academic nurse faculty shortage has been attributed to the challenging environment of academia and lack of support (Blauvelt & Spath, 2008). The mentoring of novice academic nurse educators is a suggested method to recruit, retain, and support novice educators in the academic role (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, [AACN], 2006; National League for Nursing [NLN], 2006). There is limited quantitative evidence that has measured the outcomes of mentoring programs. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine whether mentoring programs have an influence on the satisfaction, retention, or scholarly productivity of novice academic nurse educators. Results demonstrated that there were statistically significant differences among the variables of satisfaction and retention between novice academic nurse educators who received mentoring, and those who received no mentoring. There were no statistically significant differences for the variable of scholarly productivity.

The Carnegie Foundation Report (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard & Day, 2010) calls for profound changes in the education of nurses. These changes include immersing students in the discipline and enhancing student competency. When clinical settings are sparse, the use of Virtual Patient Simulation (VPS) to enhance competency for today’s multigenerational, multicultural student can be used. Student attitude is pivotal in predicting student success, and a student’s attitude addresses his/her engagement and will impact the way a student sets goals. The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the attitudes of nursing students towards VPS. Seventy-eight surveys were returned from undergraduate, RN to BSN and master’s degree nursing students who use VPS. Results demonstrated that students had a positive attitude towards VPS. Students who were thirty years or older had a more positive attitude towards VPS then their younger counterparts. There was no statistical difference between attitude towards VPS and program type and other demographic variables.

Annually, large numbers of new nurses are entering the professional practice environment. To function effectively in practice, nurses must reflect on identifying how they learn, be skillful thinkers, and know when to retrieve and apply previously learned information or skills to clinical situations for effective decision-making. There is a lack of nursing literature measuring transfer of knowledge during the nursing student experience and upon attaining nursing licensure, from academia into clinical practice. As minimal nursing research has examined metacognition and metacognitive abilities, it was important to conduct this study to establish a foundation. The intent of this quantitative descriptive study, guided by the 3P Model of Teaching and Learning (Biggs, 2003), was to explore the variables and factors influencing metacognition and what facilitates the transfer of academic knowledge and skills of the newly licensed nurse into professional clinical practice. Using the 52-item Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) developed by Schraw and Dennison, 1994, and researcher developed demographic instrument, the study’s results suggests that newly licensed nurses have metacognitive abilities as measured by the MAI. Metacognition should be assessed and fostered throughout the continuum from academia to professional nursing practice, nurturing reflection on one’s own learning, and making adjustments according to a given topic or clinical situation. Although there were limitations to the present study, based on the correlational findings of this study that show that application of knowledge or skills and experiential learning, particularly in simulation, significantly influence metacognitive abilities, further research is warranted and should be considered by nurse educators.