June 3, 2009

$4.6-million collaboration targets nursing programs

L-R: Mary Anne Fish, Director of Nursing Programs, Health and Community Care, Bow Valley College; Noreen Linton, Acting VP of Nursing Stategies, Alberta Health Services; Lynn Judd, Chair of the Baccalaureate Nursing Program, Mount Royal College; Dianne Tapp, Dean, Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary; and Assistant Deputy Minister Glenn Monteith, Health Workforce. / Photo: Ken Bendiktsen

New program aims to bridge divide between theory and clinical practice

A new program starting today will make it easier for existing nurses to become instructors, thereby increasing the number of clinical placements available to undergraduate nursing students completing clinical courses in hospitals in Southern Alberta.

Funded by a $4.6-million, three-year grant from the Alberta Government, the Clinical Teaching Collaborative aims to shift the way academic programs and clinical practice agencies work together by increasing both clinical teaching capacity and clinical placements for nurses.

The program is a unique collaboration between Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary, Mount Royal College (MRC) and Bow Valley College (BVC).

“A combination of the nursing shortage and the dramatic expansion of seats in nursing education programs contribute to a shortage of qualified nursing educators. This project responds to important issues affecting the number and quality of clinical placements available for nursing students,” said Dianne Tapp, dean at the U of C’s Faculty of Nursing and on behalf of MRC and BVC. “If left unchecked, these trends have potential to hamper both the quality of teaching and the clinical learning experience of future nurses.”

“Our Campus Alberta system is finding innovative ways to respond to the needs of Alberta’s workforce,” said Doug Horner, Minister of Advanced Education and Technology. “This program will allow us to train more health care providers to sustain quality health care for all Albertans in the years ahead.”

The growing nursing shortage is top of mind among governments across Canada. The Province of Alberta hopes to increase the number of nursing students by more than 40 percent by 2012 to 2,000 registered nursing graduates annually.

But to raise the number of new nursing graduates first requires increasing the number of educators, who will be known as Clinical Teaching Scholars within the new collaborative program.

To help achieve this, the Clinical Teaching Collaborative will help develop a sustainable, critical mass of clinical teaching scholars and enhance overall teaching capacity for nursing education in southern Alberta for the future. Tapp expects more than 300 nurses to come through the program over the next three years.

“As the nursing shortage evolves, it is difficult for nurses to participate in teaching contracts with educational programs,” says Noreen Linton, acting vice president, nursing strategies, Alberta Health Services. “At the same time, the shortage of nursing staff makes it harder for some units to contend with the additional expectation of performing their jobs while supervising nursing students in clinical practicums.”

The first group of 12 registered nurses will start classes today at the university, providing them with knowledge and skills for clinical teaching and supervision. There are plans for two more offerings this year, including one for licensed practical nurses. Upon completion of the course, these nurses will then supervise undergraduate students on their own units where they are familiar with the practices and procedures, thus creating a more supportive learning environment for the students.

There are limited opportunities within the current system for professional career development in practical settings where most nurses work. And this model, adapted from a similar one functioning in Colorado, has been shown to benefit students and support client care in the settings where these nurses work.

I have always been interested in teaching and mentorship and had previous experience during my university years,” says Boni Low-On, an RN at Foothills Hospital enrolled in the first session. “We have had many nursing students come through our unit. I can see how they could also benefit from my clinical experience and from what I will learn from instructing.”

Currently, nursing programs at the university and the colleges annually issue more than 450 contracts for part-time teaching related to clinical courses.

“It is an ongoing challenge for us to develop and support this important group of educators because of other work demands on their time,” comments Tapp. “Students excel in clinical courses taught by nurses who have the most current practice skills, so it is paramount that we ensure the theoretical and practical learning of students are aligned. The Clinical Teaching Collaborative will help us achieve that.”

Of the $4.6 million, $3.1 million is funded from Alberta Advanced Education and Technology and $1.5 million from the Health Action Workforce Plan, which includes Alberta Health and Wellness, Advanced Education and Technology and Employment and Immigration.