The Helene Fuld Health Trust, HSBC Bank USA,Trustee has made generous contributions to the development of community-based nursing education. As a recipient of funds, faculty at the University ofWisconsin-Madison School of Nursing developed, implemented, and evaluated a pilot curriculum for undergraduate nursing students. The first phase of the project changed the landscape of community-based nursing education through faculty development. Unlike traditional approaches to faculty development, a resident expert model of faculty development based on dialogue was used. The second phase changed the landscape of teaching and learning community-based care through curricular and instructional revisions. Noteworthy changes were the creation of a curriculum responsive to both individual student and community needs, and recruitment of a cadre of teachers to enhance the cost-effectiveness of clinical education. The third phase changed the landscape of community-based nursing education through evaluation research. Several strategies were used to assess the project's usefulness, including interpretive phenomenological study of interview data and review of conventional outcome measures. Each phase of the project contributed to a new vision of community-based nursing education, a vision in which nursing as service is taught and learned.
The ability to think critically is considered an essential skill of nursing graduates and competent nursing practice. Yet, the literature reports that teachers are having difficulty teaching for critical thinking and that critical thinking is lacking in new nursing graduates. This research study sought to identify barriers to the implementation of critical thinking teaching strategies by nursing faculty currently teaching in generic baccalaureate programs in Tennessee. Surveys were mailed to 262 nursing faculty; 194 were returned, and 175 were usable. Students' attitudes and expectations represented the single greatest barrier to the implementation of critical thinking teaching strategies, followed by time constraints and the perceived need to teach for content coverage. Recommendations to support and encourage faculty to teach for critical thinking are outlined.
This article describes a curriculum designed to prepare nurses for global public health practice. Designed to be adapted to meet the needs of either undergraduate or graduate students, the curriculum uses the Internet to provide the knowledge and skills needed by nurses to effectively practice in areas around the globe. This course offering integrates the disciplines of nursing and public health with state-of-the-art technology to teach nurses how to identify the health care needs of populations, prioritize national and international responses, and design health care delivery services to meet these needs.