Elon nursing faculty contribute to building the science of nursing education

Tiffany Morris, associate professor and chair of the Department of Nursing, and Elizabeth Van Horn, associate professor in nursing, presented at the Nursing Education Research Conference (NERC) held in Washington, D.C.

Tiffany Morris, associate professor and chair of the Department of Nursing, and Elizabeth Van Horn, associate professor in nursing, presented at the Nursing Education Research Conference (NERC) held in Washington, D.C.

This national conference held every two years and sponsored by the National League for Nursing promotes the advancement of nursing education science through research presentations, posters, and internationally renowned expert speakers in nursing education.

Morris presented an interdisciplinary collaborative project co-authored with Kim Stokes, chair and program director of the Physician Assistant Program. Their work was titled, “Uncovered: A Co-curricular Strategy Establishing Foundational Values for Interprofessional Education.” This Interprofessional Educational (IPE) experience brought together students in nursing, physical therapy and physician assistant programs to engage in mask-making as a creative method for professional identity formation and exploration.

Van Horn gave a podium and poster presentation from her work in collaboration with Lynne Lewallen at UNC-Greensboro on evaluation of competence in novice nurses. Their poster presentation was titled, “Bridging the Theory-Practice Gap: Employers’ Advice to Nursing Programsand their podium presentation was titled, “An Exploration of Competence in the New Graduate Nurse.”

Their research lends important insight into employers’ expectations for new graduate nurses and can be used to help nursing education programs better prepare nursing students for entry into their professional nursing careers.