BSN Capstone Guidance

[peachykeenRN]

I am a pediatric nurse in Florida and am in my last class required to complete my BSN. I have to submit a practicum proposal and I honestly feel lost. I have a topic and literature to support my topic, but I feel like all of the guidelines and even the purpose of this project are so vague.

Does anyone have any clarification they could offer regarding the purpose and the end goal of a capstone or practicum project? I asked my professor for more specific instructions and she said "you identify a clinical problem and do everything required as though you would teach about it, but you don't actually teach"?!?! That confused me even further. I would appreciate any information or guidance offered. Thanks in advance!

[llg, PhD, RN]

I'm a little confused as to your question. What exactly do you not understand? It sounds to me as if your faculty member was pretty specific. Do all the preparations to teach a class about your chosen topic. Do all the research to gather all the pertinent information you would need to teach the class. Then actually prepare the class -- prepare student objectives, any handouts or audiovisuals you would use, how you will evaluate the students learning, etc. Be ready to teach it.

But you won't actually be teaching that class to anybody -- you'll be sharing your preparations with your teacher, who will grade the quality of your preparation and teaching materials. You'll be turning in your teaching plans and materials to your teacher in the form of a paper/proposal/etc. There is probably something written about the format of the paper/proposal that you are supposed to turn into her to grade.

It's like doing a care plan for a patient -- it's doing a teaching plan for a class. Just like you can write a care plan for a fake patient and never actually touch a patient ... you can write a teaching plan for a fake class and never actually implement the plan in a real classroom setting.

But please note: Not all capstone projects involve teaching projects. Some schools require other types of projects -- such as research projects, Quality Improvement projects, etc. Some require actual clinical work with patients. But based on what your instructor said, it sounds like your school wants you to do a fake teaching project.

[peachykeenRN]

Thank you for your guidance. Your information was quite helpful. My capstone class does not require a teaching plan, that was just one suggestion from my professor when I emailed her my questions. I think what was so confusing to me was that I wasn't sure what other projects could be completed aside from a teaching plan, and the course material didn't offer selections to choose from or any ideas to use as a starting point. I realized after reading your comments that QI and research were other options. Thank you again, you were a great help to me.