By Maura MacPhee

In our Brown Bag, we discussed what we should do as nurse educators to instill caring and compassion in students/new nurses. Faculty agreed that students want to do the right thing, but there are many negative forces in the workplace—examples of non-caring and focus on tasks.

What about “caring tasks?” Is it possible to teach relational practice and functional tasks at the same time? We need to always put the two together-and to expect students to exhibit caring behaviours as they carry out technical tasks.

Our students often feel that “they get it,” when we discuss relational practice, professional standards, code of ethics with them. At a conceptual level, they do get it. But how do we role model these concepts for them, and how do we operationalize and teach these concepts at the bedside for students to observe, practice and assimilate?

Perhaps we need to re-think our placements. Students need to begin in the program with opportunities to practice-reflect, practice-reflect: by instilling healthy patterns of self-reflection and “right” ways of doing and thinking, we can hopefully create self-confident nurses who will be able to succeed in negative work environments. Sites such as community centers and residential care facilities may give students time to gain self-confidence over the fundamentals of nursing care through an ethical/moral lens.

We often front-load students with the Foundations of Nursing-and then they go into clinical. Maybe we should start clinical right way and introduce foundational concepts as they experience them first-hand. Again, starting in “safe, slow-paced” environments might be better for them—than acute care sites with heavy workloads and chaotic work environments.

Do students need to be primed before entering a nursing program? Is it important to have students with care aide certificates or experience prior to entry? Some nursing programs are requiring care aide work/certification. Does this help or hurt if we want to teach fundamentals of caring?

UBC School of Nursing may apply to join the International Learning Collaborative (ILC). This collaborative promotes education and research related to fundamentals of nursing. Your thoughts?!