psychED

Hello there frustrated psych RN. First and foremost you are the pts. advocate. The ANA Code of Ethics speaks to select items that are sacred. I would speak with the pts. MD, then go up the chain of command to voice my concerns. Being a psych nurse means that you do not perhaps hang IV's but you do everything else including getting the patient to an area for medical care apart not available in your own area. I have fortunately worked in a psych unit that fostered the RN's to keep up their medical skills and the ED is 3 floors up!!! Free standing facilities usually have access to emergency care close by, right? Anyway, the pt. comes first and we all must do what is ethically correct in the pts. best interest.

OK, well the right choice was too follow the path to help young...and not so young adults become RN's rather than to work within a hospital system and "educate" already working RN's. Also, I chose not to follow the path of the psych CNS or NP, realizing that at this stage of my life I wanted to teach only and would be content to have the MSN in Nursing Education. At times I feel I should go back for the classes that would allow me to have the CNS or NP in order to be called an Advanced Practice Nurse and have more status in my professional nursing organization but for what real benefit that has any meaning to me would I gain? In nursing, there are so many options...I may change my mind in a year or two and will be off and running for that PhD!!! PsychED

Hello All, I was pleased and surprised to see my post from 2004. I still Thank Vicky and Barbara for their words of wisdom. I taught as a clinical substitute in fall of 2005 then taught my first full year 2006 as an adjunct professor. I accepted a Assistant Professor position this past Spring and just went through my first evaluation process. What a different world this is from the hospital setting. I still work at the hospital system where I have worked for a few months shy of 30 years. So, the point of my little entry here is to state I have experienced much already regarding curriculum building, working with adult learners, and negotiating faculty meetings. I still feel so new and love it so much I cannot believe it. My sadness at times comes from the fact that I waited so long to experienced teaching in the nursing school setting. I am happy that I made the right choice in my MSN program. I guess the next accomplishment will be the CNE. I am fortunate right now to be fully engaged in writing the 2009 curriculum and am excited for the spring semester when I will further engaged in teaching leadership and the transition to the RN role with the students preceptorships. Yea Nursing!

Will your curriculum be driven by a philosophy, nursing theory, or nursing model? Grand Theories? Middle-Range Theories? I am currently studying curriculum development and what the major influences would be. This seems to be a very large MSN student project you are working on. I wish you success! Rhonna

Thank you both Vicky and Barbara for your words of wisdom. I appreciate their practical value and they were right in step with my graduate readings. How does one pack so much into the time limit of an ADN program? Does everything just keep in step with the State exam expectations? How do you incorporate a discussion on Ethics and professionalism into the ADN program? Rhonna

Thank you for your warm greetings and interest. How do I attach a funny picture under my name? Rhonna

Hello. I am interested in the "Tips for New Nurse Educators" thread and discussion. I am taking a Nurse Educator Theory class and hope to have a MSN by the Fall of 2005. I have 27 years experience in the nursing field, 12 of those years as a psychiatric RN. My goal is to teach at the ADN level. I really appreciate observing the day to day workings of the Nurse Educator role in anticipation of eventually taking part myself. I hope to post questions regarding how the Educators are able to pack all the necessary information into a curriculum designed to teach at the ADN level. This seems to me to be a overwhelming task. Rhonna