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Carnegie
Foundation studies Villanova Nursing for its excellence in professional
preparation
The College of Nursing is part of an exclusive
three-year national study conducted by The Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching as part of its Preparation of Professionals Program.
The Carnegie interdisciplinary research team, led by its senior
scholar Patricia E. Benner, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, visited the College from
March 15 to 17 to discover its most effective teaching-learning strategies.
“We are delighted that the Carnegie Foundation has
selected our College of Nursing as one of the eight nursing schools in its
national sample,” says Connelly Endowed Dean and Professor of Nursing M.
Louise Fitzpatrick, Ed.D., R.N., FAAN. “There are reciprocal benefits for
this important study and for Villanova. We will learn more about ourselves
as an exemplar among nursing programs.” The College is one of only three
nursing schools in the country to be named a Center of Excellence in Nursing
Education by the National League for Nursing.
This study is part of the second phase of Carnegie’s
Preparation of Professionals Program. Because of the vital role
professionals play in society, the program investigates how academic
institutions prepare various professionals and analyzes across professions
how they approach teaching and learning in developing their professionals.
The first phrase of the program looked at educating attorneys, clergy and
engineers. This phase examines nursing education as well as medical
education. In addition, a five-year study of
doctoral education
is associated with the program.
The nursing education study conducted by
Benner—a recognized expert and researcher in the area of skill acquisition
and clinical judgment in nursing practice from the University of California,
San Francisco— involves an intensive examination of the
important aspects of educating nurses, including the most compelling and
effective educational methods and the challenges of learning to be a nurse.
Specifically, the study assesses how nurses gain their knowledge and learn
to think critically as the profession requires, how nurses attain a
functional skill level for their practice and how they “apprentice” to the
social and ethical role of the professional nurse and integrate all they
have learned to be a competent clinician. Benner’s team interviewed key
Villanova Nursing administrators and faculty; conducted focus sessions with
sophomore and senior students; reviewed curricula; visited classes and labs
and observed interactions in clinical settings. The program will also
involve a national web-based survey to better understand how nurses adapt to
new situations and to evaluate teaching and learning in nursing related to
the craft of the profession.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, founded by Andrew
Carnegie in 1905, is an independent policy and research center with a
primary mission "to do and perform all things necessary to encourage,
uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher
education." |
