Part A

1. What are the qualities most needed to be a successful academic nurse educator?

I have found that be a successful academic nurse educator, there are a wide range of skills that one should ideally have. One such skill is the ability to communicate with others in effective and clear formats. Without superior communication abilities, you are not likely to get your message across which is crucial in this role. There are also chances that whatever it is that you attempt to communicate could be misunderstood or misinterpreted. This could be a major handicap in efforts to design educational programs. Next, success in this role also requires one to be an effective collaborator. This is more so the case given that as an academic nurse educator, you will be expected to routinely collaborate with interprofessional teams in not only the implementation, but also the evaluation of educational programs. I have also found out that to be a successful academic nurse educator, one has to be familiar with the relevant core competencies, as established by the National League of Nursing (NLN).

What are those competencies? Perhaps you could mention just a few.

Yes, there are a total of eight such competencies. They have all been established by the NLN which happens to be a national organization concerned with, amongst other things, the fostering of nursing education excellence. The said competencies are inclusive of: facilitating learning; facilitating learner development and socialization; use of assessment and evaluation strategies; participating in curriculum design and evaluation of program outcomes; functioning as a change agent and leader; pursuit of continuous quality improvement in the nurse educator role; engagement in scholarship; and functioning within the educational environment.

2. As a novice, what was the best advice you were given, if any? What advice would you give to a novice academic nurse educator?

Looking back, the best advice that I received at the onset was that I should be culturally competent. I regard this as the best advice because as an academic nurse educator, I routinely engage with students as well as colleagues drawn from a culturally diverse pool. If I had not made deliberate efforts to become culturally competent, I would not have been able to appreciate and/or embrace the various belief systems as well as cultures that differ from my own which would have significantly hampered my performance and effectiveness as an academic nurse educator. This is the very same advice that I would give to a novice academic nurse educator. It is especially important now given that the world is now more of a global village. What this means is that going forward, the academic nurse educator is likely to interact even more with persons with remarkably different perspectives and attitudes about life based on their cultural background.

How then can an academic nurse educator promote his or her cultural competency so as to be able to perform effectively in this role?

Cultural competency begins with learning about oneself in relation to ones values, beliefs, as well as roots. This could then be followed by learning as much as is possible about other cultures. Diverse cultural insights could be gathered by watching/reading the relevant materials as well as engaging persons who come from other cultures. This is especially important owing to the fact that one gets to understand that we all have differing opinions and perspectives based on our backgrounds. There is also the option of getting formal diversity training.

3. Have you participated in interprofessional educational activities? Provide an example.

Yes, I have indeed participated in multiple interprofessional educational activities. One such activity involves simulation. In this case, team interactions...

…to integrity, I tend to value fairness and honesty. For this reason, I will be advancing the need for the formation of trusting and kind relationships as well as the promotion of truth and justice. These ideals will likely form the basis for the students future decisions as well as interactions in practical settings.

Lastly, with regard to cultural norms, it should be noted that I happen to appreciative of diverse perspectives as it is via the consideration and assessment of various perspective that one can gain access to the bigger picture. I also truly appreciate a collaborative framework in which case persons from various specializations can work and function together. These largely align with the mission as well as values of Columbia School of Nursing which happens to be where I would like to work someday. In essence, the Columbia School of Nursing points out that it is committed to the promotion of nursing excellence by encouraging free and open dialogue through interdisciplinary and mutual support (Columbia School of Nursing, 2021). The institution also indicates that it is in support of an all-inclusive culture that is welcoming of perspectives from diverse quarters.

Section 3

An education environment that fosters diversity and promotes collaboration will best facilitate my transition into the nurse educator role. As I have indicated elsewhere in this text, I am the opinion that one of the key roles that I will be playing as a nurse educator is the development of a pool of nursing students that are culturally competent. Thus, I feel that an environment that fosters diversity would also be instrumental in my transition to the role. For this reason, and perhaps more specifically, I would be most comfortable working in a large urban school like the Columbia School of Nursing. This is more so the case…