Promoting Clinical Scholarship Through Scholarly Writing

Inquiry in Baccalaureate Nursing Education: Fostering Evidence-Based Practice

With the increasing emphasis on evidence-based nursing practice, nurse educators need to more fully implement teaching strategies that help students gain critical thinking skills related to inquiry and understand the importance of evidence-based nursing practice. Research and scholarship emphases in one baccalaureate nursing program, student-identified benefits, and challenges associated with incorporating inquiry across the curriculum are described in this article. In clinical journal entries, students described the following benefits associated with curricular emphasis on inquiry: increased interest in evidence-based nursing practice and participating in the generation of research; enhanced critical thinking skills through the development of knowledge, experience, and competencies; increased motivation to continue professional growth and development by participating in lifelong learning; the desire to become better consumers of research findings; better understanding of the "real world" of clinical research; and increased desire to pursue graduate studies in nursing. The challenge to promote student growth toward competence in the application of evidence-based principles in clinical practice is ongoing.

Care Groups: a model to mentor novice nursing students

To lessen anxiety and promote the acquisition of basic skills and professional values in novice students, faculty incorporated special groups, called Care Groups, in the curriculum. Care Groups promote caring relationships. They help students to succeed by decreasing their apprehension and anxiety when demonstrating basic nursing skills in a laboratory environment. The authors discuss the structure and process of Care Groups and the faculty's role as mentor.