Mentoring faculty for success.

Abstract

A good deal of literature is accumulating on the importance of mentoring clinicians and students to advance evidence-based practice (EBP; Fineout- Overholt, Levin, & Melnyk, 2013; Melnyk, 2007a, 2007b; Wallen et ah, 2010; Wright, 2013). Less attention has been paid to the need for and strategies to develop nursing faculty to promote their knowledge of and skill in teaching EBP. As with traditional approaches to teaching students and clinicians about a content area rather than immersing them in it, so it is with EBP faculty development. Many schools of nursing invite experts to provide one or more workshops on this topic but do not provide follow-up support or mentors to facilitate faculty integration of concepts into their coursework or clinical mentorship of students.Levin and Feldman (2013) provide a six-pronged strategy to faculty development in EBP, which consists of1. Assessing faculty needs for various components/content related to EBP2. Including learning activities for faculty that they may use with their students3. Collaborating with faculty to devise new learning activities relevant to the courses they teach4. Including faculty (both novice and senior) in co-teaching courses with those who have experience in implementing EBP in the clinical arena5. Including faculty mentees in related presentations and publications6. Devising and implementing a hands-on workshop series for faculty who are com- mitted to becoming knowledgeable and skilled in the content and processes of EBPASSESSING FACULTY NEEDSWe tend to make assumptions about what faculty know or don't know related to EBP. As I describe in the previously cited publication (Levin & Feldman, 2013), I finally realized this after conducting several workshops for faculty and clinicians in various agencies. Thus I devised a simple assessment tool, which I administered to a large group of faculty to determine their EBP learning needs prior to conducting a workshop for them. Figure 1 shows that assessment tool as well as the variation in responses by faculty. This is a simple and useful tool to use whether you are asked to conduct a workshop or provide consultation on EBP (see Figure 1).INCLUDING STUDENT LEARNING ACTIVITIESWhen conducting faculty workshops, providing faculty with exercises/learning activities that they may use with students to help them learn EBP is essential. Again, lecturing on this content is not what fosters the best learning to apply EBP principles (Levin, Fineout-Overholt, Melnyk, Barnes, & Vetter, 2011). Any health care agency or academic administrators who provide introductory or ongoing development for faculty should make sure that the program provided is interactive, that faculty engage in the types of learning activities that they could then incorporate into their didactic or clinical courses for students.COLLABORATING TO DEVISE NEW LEARNING ACTIVITIES/CO-TEACHING COURSESThis is one of the most exciting strategies that you can use to promote faculty development because you work and learn together. You might be an expert in EBP but other faculty bring content to the fore that is new to you and together you cre- ate something better. In addition to the examples I provided in the previously cited publication (Levin & Feldman, 2013), I have worked with faculty in DNP programs to devise new approaches to students' learning. One of the strategies my co-faculty and I have devised is a learning activity to help students clarify and describe the outcome variables of their capstone projects and the measurement of those variables. (I would be happy to share this learning activity with any readers upon request.)INCLUDING FACULTY MENTEES IN PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONSIn addition to the examples provided in the previous work (Levin & Feldman, 2013), several other opportunities have surfaced as vehicles to involve faculty in publica- tion of EBP projects and resulting publications (Singleton & Levin, 2008; Singleton, Levin, Feldman, Truglio-Londrigan, 2005). …