The purpose of this project was to develop an evidenced based learning/teaching method through the creation of Critical Incident Videos (CIVs) to improve the teaching practice of nurse educators.
CIVs offer the learner an opportunity to respond to an uncomfortable or problematic situation through role-playing in an environment designed to promote exploration and learning. The videos assist in creating a visceral response from the participants, offer the opportunity to simulate various responses in taking action, and promote debriefing with reflection to improve teaching practice. By responding to the situation in the moment, one can explore various options and outcomes with peers. Role-playing with effective debriefing has been found useful in building confidence and decreasing anxiety when encountering similar situations (Vizeshfar, Dehghanrad, Magharei, Mohammad, & Sobhani, 2016).
Why is this important? Due to a national shortage of master’s prepared nurse educators (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2017, 2019; National League for Nursing, 2019) there is an urgent need and a common practice to hire baccalaureate prepared practicing nurses as part-time instructors. This routine hiring practice is problematic (Valiga, 2017) as practicing nurses are not prepared educationally for their role as instructor and have limited knowledge about how to guide students’ learning (Gaberson, Oermann, Shellenbarger, 2015). While practicing nurses are often chosen for their competent clinical skills, they lack knowledge and skills required for teaching within undergraduate nursing programs (National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, 2010).
Methods:
Our study collected data from a survey sent electronically to nurse educators teaching in a New England state. Respondents were asked to identify teaching concerns and respond to open ended questions describing challenging encounters faced by nurse educators (n=50). Data from the survey was analyzed for key themes. Scripted scenarios were written and videos developed to capture the various complexities of the teaching environments. Four focus groups were held to learn if the videos captured the themes from the data and to brainstorm how the videos could be best used in faculty development to improve teaching practice.
Results:
Participants reported that CIVs represented real experiences that were useful to role play, both as new and experienced educators. By role-playing simulated experiences, these videos allowed participants to gain perspective, deal with conflict, set boundaries, improve communication skills, and think through possible outcomes and consequences. Participants concluded this simulated experience would be useful to prepare and improve teaching practice of nurse educators.
Conclusion:
The videos were an ideal method to capture a challenging teaching situation, generate a visceral response, and practice problem-solving.