The shortage of registered nurses is inextricably linked to the shortage of nursing faculty which has resulted in the turning away of over 40,000 qualified students in 2010. One solution to the faculty shortage has been to recruit faculty from clinical practice. This often becomes problematic resulting in intent to leave academia within five years. Possible factors contributing to this action are role ambiguity and role strain. This study, therefore, examined role strain experienced by nursing faculty and the extent to which role strain predicted satisfaction with the role transition and intent to stay in academia. Findings revealed that role strain does exist among nursing faculty. Role ambiguity and self-assessed competency are significant predictors of role strain, and role strain is a significant predictor of satisfaction with the role transition and intent to stay. The study also looked at whether age, education, and experience affected role strain, and they were found to be poor predictors.
Background
Because of large class sizes and limited resources, students participating in high-fidelity simulation experiences may be assigned to an observer role as opposed to an active nursing role.
Purpose
Educators need to determine if anxiety levels and student learning outcomes are comparable for students in active and observer roles.
Methods
A quasi-experimental study was conducted with 132 prelicensure baccalaureate students. Active nursing roles consisted of primary care, documentation, and medication nurse roles. Observer role students were provided with resources to guide them with developing their observational skills and achieving the simulation objectives.
Results
There were no significant differences between simulation roles for anxiety levels, satisfaction with learning, self-confidence in learning, clinical ability, problem solving, confidence in clinical practice, and collaboration.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that either role is an appropriate assignment during simulation. Educators should identify ways to be supportive and reduce anxiety in students during simulation experiences.
Education for interprofessional collaboration should begin early in the nursing program with a gradual infusion of interprofessional competencies into the curriculum. The faculty developed an interprofessional education program for students in nursing, physical therapy, nutrition, and respiratory care, which focused on sharing knowledge about each discipline, developing respect and value for each other's disciplines, and emphasizing techniques to improve communication and teamwork.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.