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Supporting the Development of Caring and Compassionate Care in Nursing Students Within a Public Health Setting

Lucia Taggart

RN, BNSc

Award: AMS/RNAO Fellow


Co-Sponsor: Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit

Themes:
  • Provider wellness/resilience

Nursing theorists such as Roach, Watson and Ray have developed frameworks through which the concept of caring can be identified as a critical component of nursing practice, regardless of the setting (Algoma Public Health, 2008). However, numerous studies have shown that in the transition period from student to novice, new nurses can be so overwhelmed with learning the psychomotor and time management skills required of their work, that intangible concepts like caring can get lost. This in turn may contribute to the feeling of frustration, low self-esteem and poor congruency with their roles as nursing professionals. One of the recommendations from the National New Graduate Nurse Colloquium held in London, ON in 2015 was that academia and health care providers need to collaborate with curriculum development so that students have opportunities to put into practice the theories they have learned about in school and facilitate their transition from nursing student to novice nurse (personal notes).

By completing the Practice Nurse Educator program, I hope to increase my knowledge and skills in creating learning environments that support success. I plan to demonstrate my skills by developing a public health nursing practicum for our agency that enhances the students’ learning by using language or tools they may be more familiar with, such as the use of rubrics to communicate expectations. As well, by learning how to evaluate learning, I can support our preceptors with completion of the students evaluation form, as well as better understand the course requirements and evidence of success.