Professional Development & Educator Resources
Professional Development & Faculty/Educator Resources
As in any profession, mastering the knowledge, skill, and path to success are often a more enriching experience when you can learn from others that have taken a similar journey or have walked the path before you. I have always valued the ability to have a mentor in my life I can communicate with, learn from, and get feedback from. I have always looked to see if others have traveled the same or similar path as I have and can I emulate or learn from another persons success. As a nationally board certified Nursing Professional Development Specialist and Academic I have always promoted professional development and growth through mentoring, role modeling, and value the experiences of others that have been or are in roles (official or unofficial) I would consider positions of influence in the profession of nursing.
A few years ago I started having my undergraduate nursing students contact or look up Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) to help them realize all the FAAN’s started exactly where my students are and help them visualize their capacity to evolve and grow within the profession of nursing. The power of a conversation and the human voice have profound impact. I have found the assignment with my students and even some colleagues on the service side to be extremely profound as it opened peoples eyes to the possibilities. I have even had nursing students come to me, after my series of professional development course work or workshops, and say how they now saw the nursing role as more than just bedside and how their views of the nursing profession has significantly expanded.
The RN-Mentor podcast is an extension of what I started years ago, with a twist! This podcast is an opportunity for everyone to learn about the beginnings of nurse leaders, innovators, educators, disruptors, challengers, authors, movers and shakers, and more… What this podcast does is gives its primarily RN audience an opportunity to hear from individuals they may not normally have the opportunity to meet and talk to for any length of time.
I created the RN-Mentor Professional Development Resources site to assist nursing professionals that teach any component of nursing professional development, leadership, role transition, communication … in curriculum, and ALSO be used by nursing professional development specialist, service line educators, formal and informal nurse mentors, nurse leaders, nurses, and by student nurses to use for the purposes of professional development, communication, self-improvement, and professional growth.
This site provides some tools and resources that can be used by faculty, nurses, student nurses and anyone interested on their path to improving the nursing profession through self and student professional development.
Faculty Resources
Nursing Baccalaureate Education
Undergraduate student nurses are often busy learning clinical concepts and so engrained at the bedside they may loose site or not even be introduced to the professional roles and responsibilities till perhaps their final semester in a Baccalaureate degree.
Videos like TedTalks and various podcasts are one way I have found will engage students with concepts, roles, and individuals they may not otherwise be introduced to. However, finding an appropriate video or podcast that met my needs was not always easy.
The RN-Mentor Podcast introduces the Baccalaureate student to individuals that have traveled similar paths as the students and concentrates on not only the professional path, but organizations, policies, professional development, advocacy, social justice, and more.
Nursing Master’s Education
Masters of Nursing programs are deeply ingrained in role development as they assist the Registered Nurse transition from an individual patient or system focus and develop a greater sense of the professional nurse in advance practice, administration, education, or informatics. Although an expectation that RN’s have had an opportunity to engage in the profession of nursing, networking skills are often underdeveloped, active participation in professional conferences not well developed, and may not have clear long term goals identified.
The RN-Mentor podcast provides an opportunity for Masters level students and RN’s to develop, emulate, or gain insight of their role expectations as a graduate level registered nurse.
Nursing Doctoral Education
Nurses can take two paths on their journey to earn a doctoral degrees. Whether nurses take the PhD or DNP route the need for mentorship, networking, and role models remains strong. This podcast provides opportunities for doctorally prepared nurses and students to learn about the paths taken by established nurse leaders in various position such as academia, service, philanthropy, research, and more within the profession of nursing that they may not have otherwise access to.
The diversity in the podcast guest provide opportunities in all ten domains in the 2021 published essentials, CORE COMPETENCIES FOR PROFESSIONAL NURSING EDUCATION. Assignments can be designed to address either
AACN Level 1 Essentials
Entry-Level Professional Nursing Education sub-competencies
OR
AACN Level 2 Essentials
AACN Essentials Advanced-Level Nursing Education sub-competencies
Key content in all ten domains can be discovered and utilized in all Levels of Professional Nursing Education.
Assignments can be developed using the appropriate level of Bloom’s Taxonomy to meet Program, Student, and Course Learning Outcomes.
Bloom’s Taxonomy (2001 Revision)
RN-MENTOR PODCAST
Comments & Testimonials:
Learning about her journey through her nursing career was amazing to listen to. It's incredible how many levels of nursing there are. Before this program, I assumed nursing was just in a hospital or office. It was eye-opening to learn about Dr. Hassmiller's and her passion for The Future of Nursing.
She reignited the thought that big things are not impossible to achieve.
Listening to her made me realize that as nurses, we have a voice and we need to use it.
… one of the roles we have is paying attention to the social determinants of health in order for nurses and the nursing community to address inequities across the communities across our city. There is a call to action for nurses across the health care community to research, be informed, and be active in advocating for the voiceless and activism towards making sustainable changes for the betterment of our communities - which is certainly very inspiring for a novice nurse like me!
The impact that this podcast made on me is to be bolder, with thoughtfulness, about the things we care about.
"Let's unleash nursing." I loved this line. Before this program started, I really did think that nursing was just all the activities that we do at the bedside. However, after listening to this podcast, I realized that there is more to being a nurse.
This interview was my favorite yet. I could feel her energy and passion as she was speaking. She made me excited to be going into nursing, especially as someone with an interest in public health.
I found this podcast to be extremely aligned with my values as well as how I would like my career to unfold.
I never understood the idea of mentors and why we have them in the nursing field. Listening to this podcast made me realize how important it is to build relationships and mentorships. I loved the idea of finding mentors in areas that are not your own to help build your knowledge base, but also to help you "challenge your limits."
A takeaway from this podcast episode is I should find and engage mentors regularly, to help me test my limits and encourage my continual development.
Podcast 101
Although Podcasts are not new, their use in academia is often limited to the creating an episode in a communication or technology class. Some educators record podcasts to deliver lectures and content, However, the use of existing podcasts are underutilized. Podcasts can be an invaluable resource for educators and professionals. Podcast topics vary in the thousands and can easily be utilized as supplemental material in coursework. The only challenge is finding the right podcast to align with course work or professional and personal development.
What is a Podcast
A Podcast is an internet show that is delivered primarily in an audio format. It can be listened to via a smart device, tablet, phone, or desktop/ laptop . There are thousands of podcasts available for free on practically any topic.
Guide to Podcasts
A Beginners Guide to Getting into Podcasts (New York Times)
The RN-Mentor Podcast as an Assignment
The assignments associated with the podcasts are meant to encourage, bring insight, motivate, and inspire the student nurse and to shed insight in the profession of nursing and within ourselves. Each podcast can be associated with a reflective journal entry. Journal entries can be low stakes and utilized as an active tool to measure active listening, critical thinking, professional development planning, and engagement within the profession of nursing. These journals are meant to help students and professionals reimagine the profession of nursing, gain insight, and think about a professional career path as a nurse leader, advocate, innovator, creator, and more.
This podcast or portions of can be used in lieu of a lecture or reinforce the content of a lecture, just as you might bring in a guest speaker, a key note at a conference, researching a call to action in the profession of nursing…
My personal assignments are geared more toward reflective writing process with simple instruction. Below is a sample a general statement I give my students in their senior year. Statements and instructions can be made more specific depending on the content (leadership, mentorship, public health, advocacy…)
After listening to the podcast, please write a short reflective entry (2 to 5 sentences) about what you heard (not a summary) + 1 takeaway that you think is something you will take with you as you embark on your professional careers.
*Podcasts are made to be heard on the go... However, for the purposes of listening with intent I have found it helpful to listen to podcasts all the way through for general understanding and going back for a second time or to the areas that peeked my interest to take notes for myself.
A successful reflective journal should have at a minimum three elements - description (of your experience, not a summery), analysis (of what was discussed and how you may relate to the person, topic, or discussion), and outcomes or action ( how the topic may have influenced you to take action in a personal or professional way now or in the future or perhaps reinforced a belief or action) .
If you find the students have difficulty translating what they heard you can use the following form to help guide them.
Rubrics can also be developed for more in-depth analysis of reflective journaling or writing based on your objectives.
Rubric Resources:
The list of resources on this page are not meant to be a comprehensive collection, rather a starting point.