Module 4

I like the question for Module 4 blog:  

What sort of teaching is done in your professional role? 

For me, the answer is easy.  I am a teacher!  I teach nursing. And…best of all, I teach nursing online.  I’ve had such an interesting opportunity in the past 6 months to help write the curriculum for the Mental Health Nursing course that I’ll be teaching  I’ve been fortunate to have the option to choose amongst a broad array of learning resources for distance students:  case studies; eBooks; virtual clinical excursions; You-tube; pre-testing for each chapter which automatically creates an individualized study outline for the student; post-testing to demonstrate learning of the concepts; online communities; webinars; immense test banks; predictor testing for NCLEX readiness; recorded NCLEX prep courses so that a student may review them as many times as necessary, and the list goes on.

I cannot think of any nursing or health care provider role that does not involve teaching. I thought about end-of-life caregivers and researchers, but those roles can involve a great deal of teaching, too.  Really, if one is going to provide health care, the major role is teaching.   

Module 3 - Information Retrieval

In a sense, I’m hesitant to admit my conclusions!  I used PubMed (and I’m used to using CINAHL); the AHRQ National Guideline Clearing House and Google to search for information about Monogenic Diabetes. 

Monogenic Diabetes is a fairly new name for a condition that may have been mistakenly identified as either Type I or Type II diabetes since those terms were coined. There are two kinds of monogenic diabetes: 

·         Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY), and

·         Permanent Neonatal Diabetes

What’s exciting is that if it’s properly diagnosed, most of those with it can stop using insulin.  So… because it is fairly new, I wasn’t certain that I’d find a great deal of information.  PubMed returned 118 articles, that decreased to 47 when I chose ‘English-language only’, ‘adults’, and ‘articles less than 5 years old’.  Not bad.  However, when I reviewed them, they were narrowly focused on single chromosome mutations, etc. and of not a great deal of value to one who was looking for a broader overview. 

Next I checked the AHRQ National Guidelines Database, and tried multiple search terms.  Each time, the same three articles appeared, none of which had anything to do with monogenic diabetes.  I think it’s much too early to expect national guidelines to have been created for this condition.

Finally, I used Google search, and this is what I’m not sure I want to admit.  Within seconds, Google returned 96,400 results!  There were an impressive number of credible journal articles, and they were the broad overview types I’d hoped to find in PubMed.  I then did another search using Google Scholar, and again, within seconds, most of the articles that I had worked so hard to find on PubMed appeared.  The best part is that it’s possible to import Google Scholar references into EndNote.  (http://www.endnote.com/support/Faqs/Import/faq11.asp) So, at least right now I’m thinking I’ll probably continue to use Google/Google Scholar, and combine it with EndNote.  What do you think?

Module 2

What is one way you could become involved in designing, selecting, evaluating, or implementing an information system in your workplace?

Actually, I am involved in selecting and designing one now with the goal of implementing it in early spring.  One of my teaching assignments is the pre-licensure final semester nursing class, and I'm sure we can all appreciate the pressure of preparing nursing students for the NCLEX-RN exam.  It's a LOT of pressure, and a course that, in the case of Western Governors University, has the attention of nearly every state board of nursing in the United States. 

I have a pretty good idea of the design for the course; that is, the format and outline for each module. However, the challenge is to find a test bank that contains thousands of questions that are closely aligned with the 2010 NCLEX platform.  I attended the NCLEX Invitational in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, and it was a great opportunity to meet and speak with other nursing educators from throughout the U.S.  Has anyone heard of the Hurst Reveiew? 

So, the next step will be evaluating the products that I find.  Hopefully, it all works out well so that the implementation piece will be easy....although, actually I'm expecting that it may not be easy to work out all the bugs.  I hope I'm wrong about that. 

Module 1

Hi, I'm Carma Miller.  I obtained my ADN and BSN from Weber State, my Master's in Nursing (Health Care Systems Administration) from BYU, and my Masters of Public Health from the University of Utah (just completed my final practicum this month), and I'm a new MS-DNP student.  If you're thinking "professional student", you may be right; however, when I graduate next December, I plan to slow down, enjoy my family and do leisurely kinds of things.

I am full-time nursing faculty at Western Governors University, and I love my job!  Since WGU is a private, not-for-profit online university (and CCNE accredited), as long as I have internet access, I can be pretty much anywhere in the world.  I teach psych/mental health and role transitions (final semester capstone course).  Most of my nursing career has been spent in administration and teaching, although I have taken some very interesting detours such as consulting in clinical research and global health projects.

Information technology in my work setting is the basis for existence at WGU. Since I've only been there since the end of April, it's been an interesting, challenging and steep learning curve, as I've become familiar with Wiki/Google Docs, Community Groups, Discussion Boards, Adobe Connect Pro, Skype, blogging, and web-based learning resources such as HESI, ATI, Evolve case studies, MindEdge training, Pearson MyNursingLab, and many others. 

I'm looking forward to learning in this class.  Managing and communicating the massive amounts of data, information and knowledge that exist in healthcare is a challege facing all of us as we move into 21st century provision of care and teaching.  I'm looking forward to getting to know you as we move forward towards our nursing education goals.