Introduction

System Variables

• Nursing Profession
• Agencies
  
• Accrediting Bodies

• Preferred Model
• Learning Theory
• Teaching Style

• Readiness
• Learning Style
  

Part 2:  The Seven Steps of Planning --Plus One

Weekly Assignment 1
Evaluating Learning

Weekly Assignment 2
Analyzing Experiences

Feedback

• Organizational structure/roles
• Policies and procedures
• Resources

Organizational Structure/Roles
Your organization's structure and people's roles within that structure help determine who teaches what and when. For example, some organizations have individuals whose job is teaching a particular patient population, such as people with diabetes; or whose job is teaching related to a specific event such as pre-op teaching or discharge teaching. These "designated teachers" have a variety of titles including clinician, clinical specialist, and educator. When an organization has "designated teachers", that person has the primary responsibility for teaching specific patient population(s) or subject matter, and the staff nurses' teaching role becomes more supportive, focusing on review and reinforcement. In contrast, in many organizations, teaching is the responsibility of the nurse(s) responsible for the patient's overall care. For example, in home health each nurse has responsibility for teaching the patients and family's in his/her case load. Clarity concerning roles and responsibilities, and effective communication among all those with responsibility for teaching are key to making any system work.

Policies and Procedures
Many agencies have policies and procedures to direct teaching and learning in that setting. Policies and procedures may be derived in part from standards of practice, and usually address rules and process: who teaches; when teaching should be done; how to get teaching materials approved; how to document teaching; etc. Policies and procedures may address teaching materials, but are not the same. For example, a policy may include rules for developing and/or using educational pamphlets, but the pamphlets themselves are not part of the policy or procedure.

Resources
The quantity and quality of resources available to support teaching and learning certainly influence the character of teaching-learning interactions, and can decrease their effectiveness. Resources generally boil down to money, and this is no exception. Examples of resources that money can buy include:

• Time
• Space
• Materials
• Equipment
• Experts

As we know, resource allocation reflects priorities. This is the case with individuals and organizations. Incongruence between stated priorities and resource allocation can be frustrating, as can incongruence between individual and organizational priorities. It may be safe to say that most of us want our organizations to value teaching as much as we do, and we want them to "put their money where their mouth is".

Certainly adequate quantities of excellent resources offer more options and make teaching easier. However, it is important to remember that teaching-learning interactions can still be effective when resources are limited. Skill, creativity, and flexibility can overcome some resource limitations.