Nurse Educators' Lived Experiences of Student-Centered Teaching in Practice Settings: A Proposed Interpretive Phenomenology

The purpose of this poster presentation is to describe a proposed research study that represents an upcoming Master's thesis. In today’s health care system, changes and complexities require nurses to practice with a high degree of accountability and strong problem-solving skills. Increasingly, nurses are required to anticipate and manage complex care of diverse patients; consequently, nurses need to be educated in a manner that meets current practice demands. Clinical nursing education is moving towards a student-centered philosophy that facilitates nursing students’ confidence, creativity, inquisitiveness, intuition, open mindedness and the capability for gathering and analyzing information. The student-centered philosophy has been widely researched with consistent findings that students are highly satisfied with this approach. However, inconsistent student outcomes of critical thinking and problem-solving have been reported by several researchers who have examined student-centered teaching in classroom settings. Only one study was located that examined nurse educators’ intent to use student-centered teaching in a clinical setting. This sample of nurse educators experienced mixed reactions to incorporating student-centered teaching in practice settings. The proposed interpretive phenomenology will explore the essence of student-centered teaching from the perspectives of nurse educators who teach undergraduate nursing students in various practice settings. A purposive sampling technique will be utilized. Ten to fifteen nurse educators that utilize student-centered teaching in practice settings will be recruited from several bachelor of nursing programs located in the Province of Manitoba, Canada. Semi-structured audio-recorded interviews will be conducted to explore nurse educators’ lived experiences of student centered teaching in practice settings. Audio-recorded interviews will be transcribed verbatim. The transcripts will be analyzed using a process described by van Manen. An executive summary of the study’s findings will be shared with all participants and participating deans and directors. This study is significant in that findings will generate recommendations to enhance the incorporation of student-centered teaching that can be utilized by educators, educational administrators, and preceptors in practice settings in various health care disciplines.