NURS FPX 6103 Assessment 4 Creating a Professional Development Plan Influences

NURS FPX 6103 Assessment 4 Creating a Professional Development Plan Influences

The environment has a lot of influence on the conduction of nurse education, with social, political, economic, and institutional forces all playing a role in shaping the design and delivery of education services. The University of North Carolina Wilmington (2021) investigated various environmental issues that have an impact on the current trends in nursing education. From the analysis of the environment, the institution reported that the critical social issues affecting nursing education include disparities in health access and quality for racial minorities and rural populations as compared to the general population, the underrepresentation of minorities in the health profession, and the influence of providers’ biases on quality of care (University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2021). Consequently, the role of nurse educators goes beyond the theoretical and practical lessons delivered in academic and nursing institutions to include combating the inequities in society through anti-bias education, cultural competency training for nurses, and public health education to raise awareness of the need for services for rural populations and racial minorities. I have a personal bias towards the provision of cultural competency training and anti-bias education for nursing students, with the assumption that these will build the students’ capacity to be public health educators.

The major political factor with an influence on nursing education is the need for health policy changes at the federal, state, and local government levels to improve the delivery of healthcare for all populations. According to Rafferty (2018), health policy is often inspired by short-term financial considerations, meaning that the impacts of the policies on the populations are not always a priority for the political class. Consequently, nurses need to be at the forefront in advocating for desirable policy changes to enhance the provision of high-quality and value-based care to patients from diverse backgrounds (Rafferty, 2018). The role of the nurse educator, then, includes the training of nursing students to design, implement, and champion changes in health policies. My assumption is that the nurse educator role is limited to the preparation of nurses for practice, with the capacity to act in changing health policies achieved through roles other than education.

NURS FPX 6103 Assessment 4 Creating a Professional Development Plan

The critical economic factor with an impact on the nursing educator role is the shortage of nurses due to poor economic plans and policies leading to a higher demand for nurses than can be met by the number of professionals. Drennan and Ross (2019) presented evidence that the economic factors that drive nurse shortages include income levels which can push individuals away from certain professions, the unemployment of nurses that makes them seek other career alternatives or the shortage of infrastructure for the training of nurses. The nurse educator, thus, plays a role in preparing nurses for providing high-quality clinical care services and working in busy environments for long hours as well as advocating for the expansion of the clinical infrastructure for the training of more nurses and more opportunities for financing nursing students (Drennan & Ross, 2019). At the institutional level, the influential factors include goodwill and financial support for nursing education, availability of opportunities for nurses who complete their studies, and the existing policies for nurse education and employment. I believe that in the right institutional environment, I will be able to successfully meet my nurse educator goals.

Analysis

My scholarship aims as a nurse educator are to continually learn about the discipline and best practices and to advance in my creativity in the design and implementation of education sessions for the nursing students. To achieve these aims, I plan to pursue further studies in the nursing discipline, acquire all the appropriate certifications and licensure for CNE, and facilitate students’ active learning through diverse teaching strategies and approaches that inspire student participation and practical work. The plan is inspired by the five competencies that clinical nurse educators in academia ought to have, as outlined by Satoh et al. (2020). The first competency is the facilitation of active learning, which involves imparting knowledge and skills to students through teaching and evaluation approaches that are student-centered, with a common example being teaching by example. The second competency is the continual engagement in academic research activities, which includes collecting and analyzing data on emerging nursing topics, evidence-based practice for various conditions and nursing diagnoses, and the development of suitable teaching strategies (Satoh et al., 2020). I will manifest