Judith Ann Young, MSN, CCRN, Environments for Health, Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Nurse Educators today are challenged to develop a curriculum within a learning environment that incorporates scientifically based teaching - learning strategies and evaluative methods that prepare nursing students for the professional role. A collaborative partnership was formed between the academic setting and a family practice clinical agency for the purpose of implementing an innovative educational strategy that was comprised of a quality improvement group project for management and leadership students. Key aims of the educational strategy included the application of quality management principles, student achievement of course outcomes and data collection for the purpose of validating the effectiveness of the strategy from each unique perspective and ‘lens’. The innovative clinical project supported service learning and incorporated adult-learning principles. The presenter will review challenges for nursing educators, describe the collaborative partnership developed, outline the implementation process of the quality project, the outcomes from the project, and future plans.