Jamesetta A Newland

Abstract

Building clinical education training capacity in nurse practitioner programs is critical to build the primary care workforce and to address the access to care problem in the country. Challenges related to obtaining clinical sites and qualified preceptors are well reported, but few practical solutions are presented. Clinical sites and qualified preceptors willing to serve can be found, but nurse practitioner faculty must remove obstacles and strengthen resources by discovering untapped capacity. Nurse practitioner faculty can design, implement, and test innovative clinical models to maximize clinical training capacity. Clinical capacity development in geriatrics and long-term care, convenience care, distance immersions, correctional nursing, occupational health, and through interprofessional collaborations and faculty practice partnerships can be expanded.

Abstract

Nursing students are often encouraged or required to submit scholarly work for consideration for publication but most manuscripts or course assignment papers do not meet journal standards and consume valuable resources from editors and peer reviewers. The International Academy of Nursing Editors (INANE) is a group of nurse editors and publishers dedicated to promoting best practices in publishing in the nursing literature. In August 2014, editors at INANE's annual meeting voiced frustrations over multiple queries, poorly written student papers, and lack of proper behavior in following through. This article describes the findings of a survey distributed to INANE members to seek feedback about submissions by students. Fifty-three (53) members responded to an online anonymous survey developed by the INANE Student Papers Work Group. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for Likert-type questions and content analysis of open-ended questions. Quantitative data revealed that most editors reported problems with student papers across all levels of graduate programs. Six themes emerged from the qualitative data: submissions fail to follow author guidelines; characteristics of student submissions; lack of professional behavior from students; lack of professional behavior from faculty; editor responses to student submissions; and faculty as mentors. These themes formed the basis for recommendations and strategies to improve student scholarly writing. Overall, editors endorsed supporting new scholars in the publication process but faculty engagement was integral to student success.