I work as an informal clinical teacher in the emergency department (ED). My philosophy of teaching and learning is largely shaped by my experience in that role and the environment in which I work. As a clinical expert and leader in the emergency department my philosophy is built around the idea that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If we wish to provide excellent, evidenced based and compassionate care within the often chaotic and time limited environment of ED, every member of our nursing team must be supported. As a novice teacher my philosophy of teaching and learning is a work in progress and explores how I view the role of the learner, my beliefs about teaching and the goals I have for students.
Reflection on my experience has demonstrated that the process of learning is heavily influence by the learner’s previous experience and an awareness of the physical and emotional environment in which the learner is immersed. Learners bring with them their own personal experience and expertise. Demonstrating to learners that their previous experience is valued is an important component of building trust with the learner in order to facilitate learning. Acknowledging the value of their experience helps to build trust and the foundations of a relationship on which learning can occur. Take for example a nurse with ten years of pediatric care experience coming to work in the ED. When I introduce them to the staff in the department, I emphasize their previous expert experience in pediatrics and how it is of value to our team. This acknowledges to the nurse that I value their experience and demonstrates respect.
Having an awareness of the learning environment is another key concept in how I view learning. The environment heavily influences a learner’s readiness and ability to successfully receive and process information. Working in the often high-pressure, high emotion and time limited ED environment many potential learning opportunities can occur, but learners can be negatively affected by these environmental stressors making it difficult to actively participate in the learning process. An example in my daily practice is when a nurse identifies a knowledge gap in their practice during a patient resuscitation. Ensuring that the nurse has time to emotionally debrief, ensuring they have had time for self reflection and a nourishment break before discussing their learning needs are essential in helping learners have a positive learning experience and be prepared to actively participate in the learning process.
My principles of teaching are heavily influenced by my experience as an expert clinical nurse the emergency department. I teach because I believe that empowering and educating other nurses improves their clinical skill, our teams working environment and ultimately provides the best possible care to our patients. As an expert clinical nurse, teaching involves the sharing of my expertise through reflecting on my own experience and identifying how I can best translate this knowledge or skill to the learner. I believe that teaching is a process that I “do with” my peers as learners. Acknowledging to students that I don’t have all the answers and demonstrating to them the process that can be used to critically think through situations, identify resources and find solutions is a key method in my teaching philosophy. This use of role-modeling learning behaviours demonstrates to students my passion for learning, fosters trusts and helps to build positive relationships between myself as a teacher and the learners I work with.
As a novice teacher one of the most important lessons I have learned is the importance of being perceptive to a student’s emotions. Once after a critical incident in our trauma room, I spent a great deal of team working through the case with a new nurse who had struggled throughout the event. I thought I had used excellent teaching methods in asking what they wanted to review, using different resources to address learning needs the nurse identified and working through the patient case from the basic pathophysiology, to process and possible outcomes. The next day my clinical educator reviewed with me that the nurse had felt overwhelmed and my attempts to facilitate learning had actually created more distress for the nurse involved. She emphasized with me the importance of developing my own emotional intelligence and being perceptive to the implicit feedback and cues from learns as to their readiness to learn. As a teacher we are often viewed as an authority figure, and learners may not feel comfortable in explicitly stating that they are unprepared to learn. It is therefore important for teachers to observe for non verbal cues and be perceptive the needs and emotions of learners and adapt our teaching approach based on these cues. Developing my own emotional intelligence is an important element to my personal philosophy of teaching and learning.
As a teacher in the clinical setting the ultimate goal of my teaching is in the building of nurses’ self efficacy over time. Observing nurses become more confident and independent in their practice while providing high quality care to our patients as they journey from novice to expert practitioners demonstrates to me the impact I have has as a teacher. As a teacher my success is measured in my contribution to building a knowledgeable and effective team of nurses who can provide high quality care in the emergency department.
My philosophy of teaching and learning acknowledges the value of learner’s previous experience and identifies the importance of building learning environment in which students feel safe. I consider teaching to be an interactive process I “do with” the learner that is directed by implicit and explicit feedback received from students and that the effectiveness of teaching is measured in the building of self efficacy among learners. Nursing in the emergency department requires a wide range of knowledge and skills and the ability to function within a dynamic interdisciplinary team. As a team we are only as strong as our weakest link and my role as a teacher in this complex learning environment is to facilitate learning among all team members.
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