July 22, 2015 - Vision Statements

A common truism from the French is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Yes, we all have feelings of déjà vu from time to time, and some things never seem to change. But just last month, the Supreme Court ruled that marriage is a fundamental right and no state may restrict a gay or lesbian person's right to get married. And on July 10, the Confederate flag was removed from the statehouse grounds in Charleston, South Carolina. Things are changing. And there are days I feel the earth is spinning on its axis faster and faster.

What is true for society nowadays is certainly true for the worlds of education and health care. We cannot teach the way we were taught, and our students will not face the health care environment we faced when we were first licensed as RNs.

For this fundamental reason, the NLN embarked on a process of developing living documents to serve as a roadmap for the future of nursing and nursing education in accordance with our core values: caring, integrity, diversity, and excellence. The 2014-2015 academic year was especially productive; we published four new documents in the NLN Vision Series. Watch for upcoming NLN visions on interprofessional education and practice, diversity, and nursing education research.

What makes NLN Vision Statements particularly valuable is the process by which they are created. Each statement is the result of much discussion involving Strategic Action Groups, members of the NLN and others experts who assess current trends, review the literature, and make thoughtful recommendations for faculty; deans, directors, and chairs of nursing programs; and for the NLN. We take the recommendations seriously, using them to plan faculty development opportunities and collaborative efforts with key stakeholders and corporate partners.

I encourage you to read the four most recent of our Vision Statements. The NLN Vision for Recognition of the Role of Licensed Practical/Vocational Nursing in Advancing the Nation's Health came out last fall and is summarized in the Headlines from the NLN in Nursing Education Perspectives (Vol. 35, No. 6) .

The three other Vision Statements that have been released reflect the influence of technology in health care and education. A Vision for the Changing Faculty Role: Preparing Students for the Technological World of Health Care describes a world where patients are actively engaged as members of the health care team, where nurses are called upon to design applications to house patient data, and virtual technologies are up-ending the idea of a patient care visit as a face-to-face encounter. In this world, where faculty must be competent in teaching with and about technology, the faculty role will continue to be transformed. (See Nursing Education Perspectives, Vol. 36, No. 2 .)

A Vision for Teaching with Simulation expands on the findings of the recent National Council of State Boards of Nursing longitudinal study on simulation. It identifies strategies and resources to address the ongoing need for contextual and experiential learning. With our Advancing Care Excellence programs and vSim, programs of the NLN Center for Excellence in the Care of Vulnerable Populations and the NLN Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology, respectively, we already offer phenomenal resources for simulation educators. We will build on these resources, increasing our support for multisite research studies in simulation pedagogy. And we will continue to provide opportunities for the development of research scholars through the NLN | Chamberlain Center the Advancement of the Science of Nursing Education. The recommendations for deans, directors, and nursing department chairs to support the development of dedicated simulation faculty are extremely important. (See Nursing Education Perspectives, Vol. 36, No. 3.)

A Vision for Debriefing Across the Curriculum, which was released in June, is a joint product of the NLN and the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INASCL). It builds on the INASCL standards of best practices in simulation and calls for educators to let go of long-held assumptions and reframe how they see the teaching/learning process and the student-teacher relationship. The goal is to develop reflective practitioners through a process of questioning. Clearly this is a document that must be read it its entirety. I believe it will have a profound influence on all aspects of nursing education for years to come.

We have also been extending our intellectual reach through active involvement with thought leaders in other organizations. For example, The NLN took part in the Johns Hopkins University Berman Institute of Bioethics National Nursing Summit, which produced A Blueprint for 21st Century Nursing Ethics. And the NLN Centers for Nursing Education continue to address the recommendations of the 2011 Institute of Medicine report, Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health.

Pluto

So, colleagues, we are very busy at the NLN, even with the hazy, lazy days of summer beckoning from our office windows. It is nice to know that the New Horizons spacecraft is traveling the far reaches of our solar system, sending back vivid images of Pluto and its moons, boggling our minds and expanding our worldview. Did I say that things are changing? You bet they are.