Other Titles
Effective teaching methods
Abstract
Purpose: The need for nursing education to facilitate the development of leadership skills has been recognized in the literature (Rosser, 2014; Galuska, 2015). Several collaborative and innovative activities have been incorporated into nursing programs, including peer mentoring both in the clinical and laboratory settings, service learning, promoting student attendance at leadership conferences, and facilitating active student-organizations (Foli, Braswell, Kirkpatrick and Lim, 2015; Ross, Bruderle and Meakim, 2015; Schoening et al., 2015; Tabloski, 2016). The Bachelor of Science in Arctic Nursing (BScN) Program is unique as it is located in Iqaluit in Nunavut Territory, a remote area of Canada"s Arctic, which has implications on what activities and opportunities for leadership experiences are possible. This presentation outlines the challenges and implictions of incorporating leadership acticities into the BScN Arctic Nursing Program.
Methods: The Bachelor of Science in Arctic Nursing Program is delivered by Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) in Iqalit, Nunavut in partnership with Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A number of activities have fostered student leadership initiatives in the Program, including student attendance at conferences, focused assignments within the leadership course, and service learning experiences. One highly successful activity is the 3rd-Year nursing students" participation in a leadership activity prior to their six-week intersession clinical placement at Dalhousie University in Halifax. As part of the orientation experience for the Arctic Nursing students in Halifax, they participate in a two-day Leadership Boot Camp where, through learning experiences the students acquire theoretical and practical leadership strategies and skills. Upon completion of their clinical placement in Halifax, the students return to Nunavut, highly motivated and enthused about their acquired leadership knowledge and understanding. They express interest and willingness to take on a leadership role, and this interest has translated into a number of both formal and informal activities that have allowed the students to demonstrate leadership within the School of Nursing. Informal activities have included advocacy initiatives, such as submitting an article to the local newspaper to raise public awareness and to correct the myths about the BScN Program, and leading student-professional development forums. Formal initiatives have included incorporation of student leadership activities into several courses, such as peer mentoring of junior students by senior students.
Results: The success of the BScN (Arctic Nursing) Program leadership initiatives has resulted from three important environmental factors: (a) students feeling safe and challenged as a result of academic leadership activities, which enhance their sense of belonging; (b) clearly defined goals, objectives and tasks the students work together on; and (c) student-and-Faculty-groups being small and cohesive, and all contributing to the learning process. The students are individually accountable for their work, and the group-work as a whole is also assessed and evaluated.
Conclusion: Leadership learning experiences have promoted and enhanced the students" academic and clinical performance, and have resulted in increased confidence and satisfaction by capitalizing on achieving their goals and objectives. Students actively invest in their own learning, sharing their strengths and improving on their weaker skills, demonstrating respect for each other, and with improved interpersonal relationships among the student-groups and instructors. This innovative approach to teaching-learning remains an ongoing goal and a challenge, yielding highly achievable and positive academic results among the nursing-student-faculty population at Nunavut Arctic College.
Sigma Membership
Unknown
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Leadership, Mentorship, Remote Nursing Program
Recommended Citation
Carbonu, Dora Maria; Edgecombe, Nancy A.; Parrott, Amanda R.; and Sakariassen, Elissa, "Leadership initiatives: Challenges and implications for a remote nursing education program" (2017). INRC (Congress). 450.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2017/presentations_2017/450
Conference Name
28th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Dublin, Ireland
Conference Year
2017
Rights Holder
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Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Leadership initiatives: Challenges and implications for a remote nursing education program
Dublin, Ireland
Purpose: The need for nursing education to facilitate the development of leadership skills has been recognized in the literature (Rosser, 2014; Galuska, 2015). Several collaborative and innovative activities have been incorporated into nursing programs, including peer mentoring both in the clinical and laboratory settings, service learning, promoting student attendance at leadership conferences, and facilitating active student-organizations (Foli, Braswell, Kirkpatrick and Lim, 2015; Ross, Bruderle and Meakim, 2015; Schoening et al., 2015; Tabloski, 2016). The Bachelor of Science in Arctic Nursing (BScN) Program is unique as it is located in Iqaluit in Nunavut Territory, a remote area of Canada"s Arctic, which has implications on what activities and opportunities for leadership experiences are possible. This presentation outlines the challenges and implictions of incorporating leadership acticities into the BScN Arctic Nursing Program.
Methods: The Bachelor of Science in Arctic Nursing Program is delivered by Nunavut Arctic College (NAC) in Iqalit, Nunavut in partnership with Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A number of activities have fostered student leadership initiatives in the Program, including student attendance at conferences, focused assignments within the leadership course, and service learning experiences. One highly successful activity is the 3rd-Year nursing students" participation in a leadership activity prior to their six-week intersession clinical placement at Dalhousie University in Halifax. As part of the orientation experience for the Arctic Nursing students in Halifax, they participate in a two-day Leadership Boot Camp where, through learning experiences the students acquire theoretical and practical leadership strategies and skills. Upon completion of their clinical placement in Halifax, the students return to Nunavut, highly motivated and enthused about their acquired leadership knowledge and understanding. They express interest and willingness to take on a leadership role, and this interest has translated into a number of both formal and informal activities that have allowed the students to demonstrate leadership within the School of Nursing. Informal activities have included advocacy initiatives, such as submitting an article to the local newspaper to raise public awareness and to correct the myths about the BScN Program, and leading student-professional development forums. Formal initiatives have included incorporation of student leadership activities into several courses, such as peer mentoring of junior students by senior students.
Results: The success of the BScN (Arctic Nursing) Program leadership initiatives has resulted from three important environmental factors: (a) students feeling safe and challenged as a result of academic leadership activities, which enhance their sense of belonging; (b) clearly defined goals, objectives and tasks the students work together on; and (c) student-and-Faculty-groups being small and cohesive, and all contributing to the learning process. The students are individually accountable for their work, and the group-work as a whole is also assessed and evaluated.
Conclusion: Leadership learning experiences have promoted and enhanced the students" academic and clinical performance, and have resulted in increased confidence and satisfaction by capitalizing on achieving their goals and objectives. Students actively invest in their own learning, sharing their strengths and improving on their weaker skills, demonstrating respect for each other, and with improved interpersonal relationships among the student-groups and instructors. This innovative approach to teaching-learning remains an ongoing goal and a challenge, yielding highly achievable and positive academic results among the nursing-student-faculty population at Nunavut Arctic College.