Nursing is a constantly evolving profession. As it evolves, so do we. We see, we do, we teach. We teach patients and families, and we teach each other. For those who want to take their teaching experiences to a professional level, a variety of opportunities exist.

Outside the Box

As Associate Dean of Nursing at West Coast University, Joseph Morris, Ph.D., RN, CNS, GNP wears many hats – he develops and implements pre- and post-licensure programs, analyzes data, teaches in the classroom, designs curricula, oversees all instructors and academic issues, and works with both faculty and students.

Dr. Morris is particularly interested in mentoring men in nursing. Over the past three years, the numbers of male nursing students at West Coast University has grown to 25-30 percent of the total nursing student body.

“I had good mentors,” Dr. Morris says, in describing his journey into academia, “and I recognized the need for good teachers.” Involved in education since 2004, Dr. Morris combines his experiences as a clinical nurse specialist and geriatric nurse practitioner with his passion for higher education.  

His greatest challenge is continuing to think outside the box by providing innovative ways to reach all students.

West Coast University utilizes a variety of tools and techniques to address differing learning styles — visual, auditory, kinesthetic — and the different generations of learners.

Dr. Morris’ strong interest in technology is reflected in the teaching tools utilized at the school, like high-fidelity simulators that give students hands-on opportunities to practice nursing skills on feedback-providing mannequins.         

These interactions increase students’ self-confidence and autonomy — valuable assets as they provide patient care in clinical settings. The school’s peer-assisted learning pairs older students with younger, more technologically astute students; both students benefit from their partner’s knowledge.

West Coast University has students from diverse backgrounds, some of whom have stories that are often challenging. Dr. Morris’ greatest reward is to see students “triumph, achieve and maximize their goals of becoming RNs.”

Jump in and Teach

“My days are unpredictable,” says Marsha Orr, MS, RN, who is a full-time lecturer and the Distance Education Faculty Liaison at California State University, Fullerton.

In addition to teaching in the RN-to-BSN program — both on campus and at distance-learning sites — Orr helps prepare part-time lecturers for their classes, coordinates orientation, and troubleshoots technology.

“Our Distance Program is a hybrid model using broadcast technology, webinar, face-to-face and online,” says Orr. “I am involved in all forms of content delivery.”

CSUF nursing students learn early how to access technology, because in addition to participating in online and webinar classes, some instructors film their lectures. “Students can watch the videos and see class content again,” which, according to Orr, has been particularly helpful for ESL students.

Since students in the RN-to-BSN program are practicing nurses, there is less clinical instruction than in entry-level programs. They do have public health and leadership clinical on-site placements.

Orr, who had an eclectic nursing career prior to joining the CSUF faculty seven years ago — working in a variety of ICU settings around the country, working high-tech home care and home infusion, teaching part-time at Arizona State, and developing and maintaining a private consulting practice — was attracted to her current position because of the teaching and technology components.

Her biggest surprise? “I knew I would love teaching, but I didn’t know how much I’d love it, and I didn’t know how much I’d enjoy the technology.”

If you’d like to teach, Orr says to let universities or junior colleges know you’re interested. Jump in and teach a class. And for those instructors using online technology, she suggests using more video and audio. “You have to think about your presence and make yourself user-friendly.”

Along with her dual-role at CSUF, Orr visits clinical areas and patients’ homes as a surveyor for home infusion and home medical equipment companies. She is a member of the Intravenous Nursing Society Standards committee.

Not a Typical Dean

Renee P. McLeod, PhD, APRN-BC, CPNP is the founding Dean of Brandman University’s new School of Nursing and Health Professions. Along with a nationally recognized advisory board, Dr. McLeod has developed an interdisciplinary curriculum that changes the way nurses are taught.

Instead of teaching facts to be memorized, the emphasis today is on using technology and innovative techniques to teach critical thinking. This is the process of accessing and evaluating information, and implementing sound decision-making at the point of care.

“I don’t think I’m a typical dean,” Dr. McLeod says. “Most deans aren’t in practice.” A pediatric nurse practitioner, she continues to see patients one day each week in her San Diego office. The faculty she hires all have to be active clinicians as well, because, “practice keeps us real.”

In addition to developing curriculum, hiring and mentoring faculty, technologically connecting with faculty across the U.S. and marketing by visiting hospitals and community colleges, she meets with foundations to raise money for scholarships for nursing students to return to school. She seeks foundations whose goals can be met by contributing to post-licensure nursing scholarships. For example, if a foundation’s goal is to improve healthcare for senior citizens, funding scholarships for geriatric nurse practitioners will help meet their goal.

Dr. McLeod was drawn to education because she has always felt that the biggest part of her job as a nurse was education. In 1976, she began teaching part-time in an undergraduate program in Pathophysiology.

For those nurses who would like to teach, she suggests beginning part-time and working into a career. She believes important skillsets include: 

• having the right education, theory and curriculum design
• being comfortable with technology
• being patient and well-organized
• helping students understand the steps taken automatically
• being willing to be questioned
• being comfortable knowing you don’t know everything.

Dr. McLeod understands that learning is a continuous process, and encourages students to be inquisitive. When she doesn’t have the answer to a student’s question, she replies, “I don’t know, but you have two minutes to find the answer for me.”

A Career with Opportunity

Jan Boller, Ph.D., RN is an Associate Professor and Director of the ADN-to-MSN and Nursing Leadership Programs in the College of Graduate Nursing at Western University of Health Sciences. Prior to moving into academia and consulting four years ago, Dr. Boller worked as a critical care staff nurse, clinical educator, clinical nurse specialist, and was the Program Development Director for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN).

Busy, Busy!

“From the very start of a career as an RN, a nurse is not only a clinician, but also a leader, teacher, and scientist,” says Dr. Boller, who is active in each of these roles at Western.  

“I am continuing the work of a state-wide project that I led on nursing education redesign,” Dr. Boller says, “and am currently working on a grant proposal to fund a three-year pilot to prepare nurse leaders.” As a clinical scholars partner with a community hospital in her area, Dr. Boller is assisting with improvement projects as the hospital prepares to achieve Magnet status.

“Managing my time to get in all that is important and exciting,” is Dr. Boller’s biggest challenge. Along with her other responsibilities, she is reading the final master’s projects for the MSN students and is the dissertation faculty chair for four DNP students.

Most rewarding for Dr. Boller is to see students grow and transform in their careers. “There’s nothing like hearing a new RN tell me, ‘I thought I would never be a leader or a teacher, but now I see how I do both every day in my practice.’”

All in a Week’s Work

She believes that nurses hold a unique place in healthcare due to the coordination of patients through the continuum of care. It has been wonderful for her, even as a Ph.D.-prepared nurse, to be able to move comfortably from the bedside to the boardroom to the classroom to the research study, all in the course of a day or a week. “Not many careers could give you that opportunity,” she says.
 

Karen Buley, RN, BSN is an obstetrics nurse who recently edited a collection of stories by nurses, Nurses on the Run: Why They Come, Why They Stay.