Attitudes of nursing faculty members toward technology and e-learning in Lebanon

Background Our transition to an “information society” means that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become integral to our lives. ICT has also become an essential aspect of medical institutions and healthcare settings. Healthcare professionals, especially nurses are required to use ICT in their daily work. In Lebanon, however, due to political factors, many universities have not introduced technology or any form of ICT in their curricula. Institutions of higher education do use technology in various ways, however, successful incorporation of ICT in education requires acceptance by instructors who are expected to use ICT in teaching practices. Although international findings reveal that ICT should be used in nursing education, some faculty members experience difficulty integrating it. Method A mixed methodological research approach was used to investigate the attitudes of nursing teaching staff toward the use of ICT in nursing education. Results Our findings revealed three categories of faculty with differing attitudes to the use of ICT in teaching and learning: pioneers, faculty members who have developed positive attitudes toward ICT usage; followers, faculty members with neutral attitudes; and resisters, faculty members with negative attitudes. Conclusions Identification of the nursing faculty members’ attitude toward ICT and the challenges faced by them contributes to the integration of ICT into nursing curricula and further development of educational practices.

School-based research agenda on healthcare simulation for nursing education in Hong Kong

BackgroundHealthcare simulation has been used as a pedagogical strategy in nursing education. Evidence has shown one of the positive impacts that simulations replace clinical placement. These wide-ranging initiatives are essential, and they can guide a nursing school’s simulation training. However, researching each innovation in the nursing field is beyond the scope.MethodsTo focus our research and develop the capacity and capability to incorporate healthcare simulation in nursing education, we used a consensus building process to establish a school’s research agenda. A modified Delphi process was adopted to reach a consensus among 10 nursing faculty members in one university with a visiting professor’s support.ResultsThe three themes were identified as (1) embedding simulation into the baccalaureate in nursing curriculum, (2) designing effective simulation-based education and (3) simulating education in the broader world (adolescents). These themes were further categorised into two areas that used simulation in the educational and community settings. Sixty per cent of the faculty members agreed that the question, ‘How can simulation be incorporated into clinical placements to enhance students’ learning?' should be the highest research priority.ConclusionThis study adds understanding to incorporate simulation-based education in the nursing curriculum and community provides insights into future research.

Nursing faculty’s point of view regarding noncompliance with ethics in academic environments: a qualitative study

Background An academic environment is the first place that nursing students are introduced to ethics related to nursing and healthcare. In this study, we explored the nursing faculty members’ point of view regarding noncompliance with these academic ethics. Methods This study was a qualitative descriptive study conducted in 2018. Faculty members at a nursing school were selected through purposeful sampling. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collection and data analysis were conducted simultaneously. Data saturation was ensured with 11 interviews. The interview transcripts were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method introduced by Elo and Kyngäs. Results The participants were six women and five men with 12.72 ± 6.64 years of experience as nursing instructors. After data analysis, seven categories were identified: discrimination, violence, misuse, out-of-date instruction and knowledge, conflicts of evaluation, hypocrisy, and disorganization. Conclusion The findings of this study indicated the existence of noncompliance regarding academic ethics. It is recommended that faculty members be informed about possible instances of ethical noncompliance in academia. There is a need to develop strategies to promote a faculty’s compliance with academic ethics. Academic administrators need to emphasize the importance of ethics in academia and use further methods to enhance academic ethics.

Trainings to train nursing teachers helping nursing students learn ethics: feedback of the participants

Introduction: Short-duration trainings for nursing faculty members in different contexts including ethics have been shown positive effect on faculty. The objective of the present study was to assess the feedback of the participant faculty members of “Trainings to train nursing teachers helping nursing students learn ethics.” Methodology: The training of four credits hours to train nursing teachers helping nursing students learn ethics was organized in October 22, 2019 at Universal College of Medical Sciences, Bhairahawa Nepal. Fifteen nursing faculty members participated in the training. At the end of training feedback was taken from the participants using validated semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was done using IBM SPSS version 21.Results: The rating of participants on training on scale 1-10 for usefulness (7.33±1.17), content (7.40±1.06), relevance (7.93± 0.70), facilitation (7.67± 0.98) and overall (7.93± 0.70) was notable. Their confidence level to conduct and facilitate “Think-Pair-Share” interactive session (3.68±0.69) and “Scenario-based Group-Work Discussion” (3.76±0.83) enhanced after training rated on Like rt scale 1-5(5= highly confident, 4= very confident, 3=confident, 2= to some extent confident 1= not confident). Participants rated session on “teaching clinical nursing ethics” an extremely important session (3.76±0.83) on Like rt scale 1-4 (4= extremely important, 3= moderately important, 2= slightly important, 1= not important). The participants mentioned that training environment was conducive and friendly, sessions were interactive and content was useful. They suggested to increase credit hours of training, conduct pre and post-test and include more scenario in curriculum of training. They committed for what was learnt will apply for teaching ethics to nursing students and in clinical nursing practice too. Conclusion: The rating of participants on the training was notable; the perception of participants was positive regarding training and training enhanced their confidence to teach ethics to students. This is obvious from their commitment.

The Challenges of Taking Breastfeeding Infants to Academic Nursing Conferences

Nursing faculty are predominantly women, and many are of childbearing age. Academic responsibilities for nursing faculty include attendance at scientific meetings and conferences. When nursing faculty members are breastfeeding, situations arise that may require them to make difficult decisions to meet both demands as mothers and academics. The purpose of this article is to describe the experiences of three nursing faculty members who brought their breastfed infants to professional nursing conferences, as well as identify major barriers to an inclusive working environment that cultivates “work–life balance” and propose workable solutions for breastfeeding mothers in academe.

Evaluation of a mentorship program for new and more-experienced nursing faculty

Objective: Evaluation of a nursing faculty mentorship program available to every faculty member regardless of seniority.Methods: Design: The faculty mentorship program was developed and implemented in a university-affiliated nursing department in Montreal in 2018. Mentors and mentees evaluated the program using self-reported surveys one-year post-implementation. The surveys addressed three main themes: (a) determining goals of the mentoring partnership; (b) overall level of satisfaction with the program; and (c) characteristics of each dyad’s mentoring agreement (strategies used to communicate, where the dyads met, etc.). Method: Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted.Results: A total of 19 mentees and 15 mentors completed the survey. The program was judged to be a worthwhile use of time by 89% of mentees and 93% of mentors. Even though specific mentoring needs differed according to seniority level, the program was shown to be beneficial to both less-experienced and more-experienced faculty. The main barriers to mentorship that were identified were related to timing, scheduling and time commitment issues. Clinical relevance: A successful mentorship program aimed at fostering relationships between nursing faculty members, regardless of seniority, has the potential to improve the productivity of a healthy workplace including the quality of both teaching and research.Conclusions: The mentorship program proposed herein was found to be useful and effective, as well as being beneficial as much for younger as for more experienced faculty members.