Innovative strategies for promoting clinical scholarship: a holistic approach

The scholarly radiation therapist. Part two: developing an academic practice—the Princess Margaret Hospital experience

Part two of this two-part series presents the results of a departmental initiative implemented in 2003 at a large urban cancer centre, Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This new model for radiation therapists was called Advanced Integrated Practice (AIP) and was developed, in part, to encourage and promote scholarship within radiation therapy. The AIP model incorporated integrated clinical specialty roles designed to blend exemplary clinical practice with focused academic activities. This paper discusses an evaluation of the AIP model undertaken to obtain a formal measure of how the model had evolved, how the radiation therapists and other stakeholders were responding to the new model, whether the initial outcomes were realized and to create plans for further development of the design. The evaluation utilized a mixture of traditional qualitative research methodologies such as focus groups, quantitative surveys and a variety of other available measurable outcomes. Outcomes from the model included increased opportunities for diverse roles that incorporated an element of academic practice and augmented career choice and scope for radiation therapists. In addition, academic output and research work also increased within the department. Lessons learned from the implementation and evaluation of the model are shared, and the authors offer some suggestions to increase scholarly activity within the profession.

Identifying clinical scholarship guidelines for faculty practice

Clear descriptors of faculty practice and scholarly activities are essential to precisely demonstrate that the faculty practice role meets the standards of academic advancement and to influence academic policy. A description of scholarly clinical activities (1) justifies the benefits of faculty practice by means other than fiscal, (2) provides data for research regarding faculty practice, and (3) provides data to support the nursing profession's political, social, and health care agendas. Guidelines for clinical scholarship are described in this article. A review of relevant literature demonstrates that these guidelines go beyond current models by describing 24 scholarly activities organized into 4 areas: quality, governance, leadership, and knowledge development. Three years of data describing the scholarly activities of a college of nursing faculty engaged in practice are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the indicators in achieving these goals. These data can provide valuable information for trend analysis and, through heightened awareness of opportunities, increase faculty clinical scholarship activities.

Facilitating scholarship among clinical faculty

This article describes an evolving model of clinical scholarship for clinical-track faculty. Contemporary literature regarding scholarship emphasizes broader definitions of scholarship among university faculty, usually with an implicit focus on university faculty with doctoral degrees. Discussions of clinical scholarship focus on scholarship projects with clear application to improved patient care. Clinical-track faculty in university settings serve as exemplars of professional nurse clinicians for their students and for community-based colleagues, and also participate in university life as full faculty. Furthermore, scholarship for clinical faculty is consistent with their participation as academic scholars and as clinical scholars. An important strategy for fostering scholarship among clinical faculty in one school was the creation of a position, Director of Clinical Scholarship, with responsibilities for strengthening organizational support for scholarship activities among clinical-track faculty. Examples of activities and resources designed to foster scholarship are presented, along with preliminary evaluation of scholarship activities of clinical-track faculty. J Prof Nurs 17:141-146, 2001.

The Skills of Coach are an Essential Element in Clinical Learning

Students learn about the nursing profession through experience and close association with expert practitioners. It has been found repeatedly that expert nurses as clinical teachers "coach" students to realize their full potential. The steps of coaching have been described here to provide guidelines for clinicians new to the teaching role. The activity of coaching in clinical education is worthy of further investigation. Not only do students develop confidence in psychomotor skills, coaching appears to facilitate scholarship in the clinical setting. Skilled coaches encourage students to form meaningful, coherent theoretical frameworks for the information gathered. Without the support of a coach, students would continue to adhere to familiar views of the world and accept the clinical world as it presents itself without healthy scepticism or the ability to be creative. Cognitive coaching is not a separate activity to psychomotor coaching. Together both strategies offer a unique, and to date a poorly described, method to communicate practice knowledge to the nursing student. The ultimate benefit of coaching is the ability to instill in the student the motivation to improve performance and strive for excellence.

The acceptance of a philosophically based research culture?

This paper addresses a trend that emerged at a nursing research conference held in New South Wales during 1996. The trend was a downplaying of the relevance of philosophical and theoretical bases for research in nursing. Such a trend would not be of concern if all research aimed to merely generate local, non-generalizable conclusions and recommendations. However, research that aims to develop knowledge that can provide relevant knowledge on a broader, or universal scale, needs to be based on coherent and relevant philosophical and/or theoretical foundations. To adequately critique such research it should ideally be linked to a philosophy or theory that situates it in both historical and intellectual loci and consequently, the raison d'etre for the research should arise. This paper begins with an exploration of Immanuel Kant's philosophy and proceeds to a discussion on the philosophical underpinnings of Dorothea Orem. It is intended that such discussion will assist the clinician to see the relevance that philosophy has to clinically based research in nursing and, importantly, the critique of such research. In conclusion, two possible reasons are suggested as to why philosophy and theory in nursing research may appear to be increasingly frowned upon. It is hoped that a greater understanding of the power of philosophically based research will contribute to an increased enthusiasm and uptake of philosophically based research projects by nurses.