For Immediate Release: 01/13/2010

Contact: Tim Tassa 202-777-1172 ttassa@aannet.org

Academy Fellow Lauded For Book: “Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation”

Dr. Patricia Benner co-authors landmark literature based on recent study; considered “must-read” for all aspiring, practicing nurses

WASHINGTON – Since its release in December, “Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation,” a book co-authored by American Academy of Nursing (AAN) Fellow Patricia Benner, PhD, RN, FAAN, is receiving praise for its honest evaluation of nursing education, response to the nursing shortage, and commentary on nursing’s readiness to adapt to changes in science, technology and settings of nursing practice.

The book, funded by The Carnegie Foundation Advancement for Teaching and The Atlantic Philanthropies, has been reviewed as a controversial work and labeled a “call to arms” by experts. It is based on the results of a two-phase study recently released by The Carnegie Foundation that featured extended site visits to nine geographically and academically diverse nursing schools and national surveys of faculty and students in collaboration with nursing organizations.

“Nursing education has not kept pace with the multiple changes in health care and its changing modes of delivery. The nursing study found a major separation of classroom and clinical instruction and too little integration of knowledge acquisition and knowledge use,” Benner said.

“The book offers new insights on nursing domain specific curricula and pedagogical strategies. Vivid examples of excellent teaching and learning are provided. Recommendations for upgrading education in natural, social sciences and humanities to meet today’s practice demands for evidence-based practice and astute clinical reasoning are offered."

Benner is a Professor Emerita at the University of California, San Francisco and Director of the current study, which is an element of the Preparation for Professions Project, a multipart comparative evaluation of professional education in the United States. The study, the first of its kind in 40 years, concludes that nurses are undereducated for the current demands of practice.

“Patricia Benner’s report promises to revolutionize nursing education just as the Goldmark Report did in 1923,” said AAN President Catherine Gilliss, DNSc, RN, FAAN. “Her advice is timely and welcome.”

Benner and co-authors Molly Sutphen, PhD, Vickie Leonard, RN, FNP, PhD, and Lisa Day, BSN, MS, PhD, according to the The Carnegie Foundation, specified the following recommendations:

• that the baccalaureate degree in nursing should be the minimal educational level for entry into practice and that within ten years after graduation all nurses complete a master’s degree in nursing;
• that nursing program capacities have to be expanded so that students can complete nursing programs in a reasonable amount of time and that the associate of nursing degree from community colleges be re-evaluated in light of the extended amount of time most student nurses spend in completing these nursing programs;
• that coursework be tied to what actually happens in patient care rather than in the abstract, helping students make the connection between acquiring and using knowledge, integrating the classroom with clinical practice; and
• that nurses be prepared for the myriad contexts in which they will work, not merely a hospital setting.

According to the report, industry changes, lack of personnel and professional dexterity impact a nurse’s ability to provide intelligent clinical decision making, ensure patient safety and limit human suffering.

For more information on the book visit: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/elibrary/educating-nurses-highlights

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The American Academy of Nursing (www.aannet.org) anticipates and tracks national and international trends in health care, while addressing resulting issues of health care knowledge and policy. The Academy’s mission is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge
 

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