“I love what I do as a Nursing Instructor”

           I wanted to begin my first entry to my blog by mentioning why I love being a Nurse Educator. I have been a nurse for over 20 years. I became a nursing instructor for a nursing college 6 years ago. My reason for becoming a teacher is because I wanted to share my knowledge and passion for nursing. Along with this, I wanted to show students how to mentor compassion and caring for our patients. It is done so with Integrity and caring.

            The concept of integrity and caring go hand in hand in teaching academic integrity to nursing students. When the student understands the true meaning of caring and integrity in the nursing field of study and how we as professional nurses embody this in our core nursing values, it becomes translated to them in the form of academic integrity. Being a clinical instructor, I wanted to show my School of Nursing college could use the concept of integrity and caring to instill in the students through academic integrity teaching. 

            In my view, nursing is seen as a calling. It is essential to train student nurses appropriately to ensure that they graduate quality nurses. Students who wish to join the nursing profession should have an innate desire to help heal the sick. Along with this, the nursing instructor can help students understand the type of profession they are embarking on and the integrity of caring that it takes to be a good nurse. It is not just a matter of learning skills and concepts from a textbook. It is the integrity that you bring to the profession that sets you apart as a true nurse. Ethical practices must be taught. A good teacher will make sure that her students have met all the required standards of caring through academic integrity. Thus good nursing care, which is performed with integrity, is part of the professional nurse’s role (Widang & Fridlund, 2003).

          Students need to be taught that nursing is a caring profession. They must come to this realization and decide if this is truly their passion. There should be empathy for the patient. The teacher’s job is to teach and role model nursing with the integrity of caring. Teachers need to be mentors to the students as well as a model for the new nurse to follow. Students are made aware of the nurses’ code of ethics but are shown how to put it into practice by shadowing their instructors. Nursing responsibilities should be carried out with quality care, compassion, respect, advocacy, and commitment to the patient. In other words, performing nursing with integrity. This integrity must be displayed by the teacher so that novice students grasp the importance of what nurses’ practice. I believe that nursing teachers also have an obligation to promote further education in the profession in order to advance our caring practice for the sick.

           I have come to see just how much I love the profession of nursing, whether at the patient’s bedside or with the nursing students. Each new group of student I receive, I have learned something new about me since each group comes with its own set of dynamics. However, the one thing that remains constant in my teachings is that I am proud to be a nurse mentor to teach compassion, integrity and caring to our future nurse generations. The teacher who cares is professionally competent; s/he has genuine care and concern for the student as a learning person, and has a positive demeanor who is professionally committed to the well-being of the student (Galazis, 1990). 

References

             Galazis, R.  (1990). Creative Strategies for Teaching Care.  In M. Leininger & J. (Eds.),

                     The Caring Imperative in Education (pp. 155-165).  N Y: National League for            Nursing. 

             Widang, I., Fridlund, B., and Martensson, J. (2007).  Women’s patients’ conceptions of integrity within health care: A phenomenographic study.  Journal of Advanced Nursing 61(5),540-548.