foster educational excellence among new faculty and knowl-

edge of the culture of nursing education as well as that of the

university at large. In addition, the distance satellite campuses

exist from the main campus and necessitate a more concerted

effort to ensure that all faculty are properly oriented in the

bmechanicsQ of an academic position and are fully supported

in their role of faculty in a nursing program. Since 2000

NGCSU Department of Nursing has expanded its faculty

workforce from 15–30, both full time and part time. In the fall

of 2003, the department initiated a comprehensive faculty

orientation/mentoring program, including a manual and

activities specifically designed to enhance the work experi-

ences of new faculty. The purpose of this presentation will

outline the process whereby the Department of Nursing at

NGCSU developed the mentoring program and its successes

this academic year. The challenges encountered throughout

the process will also be discussed, along with examples of the

documents discussed. The process was developed to ease

faculty into that role without muttering along the way!

doi:10.1016/j.teln.2006.02.007

Desperate measures in desperate times for today’snursing education: mentoring new and experiencedfaculty how to teachJanet Tompkins McMahon MSN, RN (Associate Professor)

Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, PA, USA

Nursing faculty today are facing many difficult issues which

are requiring rapid solutions. This being the case may be

deemed as problematic from a national view. The nursing

educator’s shortage has prompted the hiring of many new,

inexperienced part-time faculty and even unprepared faculty

with advanced degrees in solving the shortage for nursing

education. Who is mentoring this new faculty?

The nursing student profile requires different measures in

teaching. Traditional methods are now outdated. How are

we dealing with these concerning issues? What are the risks

we are facing with our nursing students both didactically

and clinically? Will they be prepared for the NCLEX and be

the safe effective care agent for the future population of

client care? Are the desperate measures a benefit or a risk to

our educational outcomes? Perhaps awareness will assist us

in improving and making choices for improving the

standards of practice today in the institutions we teach.

doi:10.1016/j.teln.2006.02.008

From nurse preceptor to clinical teaching associateBonnie Pope MSN, RN (Director)

Phyllis Horton MSN, RN (Lead Instructor)

Forsyth TechnicalCommunityCollege,Winston-Salem,NC,USA

This is a collaborative project involving two major

medical centers, two schools of nursing, and the Northwest

Area Health Education Center (NW AHEC) in Winston-

Salem, NC.

In 2002, the American Association of Colleges of

Nursing published a report describing a critical problem:

Nursing schools were declining as many as 5,283 qualified

applicants in nursing programs because there were not

enough available faculty.

To combat the faculty shortage in Winston-Salem, NC,

the task force members from the institutions listed above

shared a common vision. That vision was to move forward

with the development of a course that would formally

educate nursing staff to become adjunct clinical faculty

known as Clinical Teaching Associates (CTAs).

Thirty-two nurses have completed the CTA course which

has resulted in the potential for these schools of nursing to

significantly increase student enrollment.

Development of this course is an excellent example of

the synergy that results when leaders from competing,

state-of-the-art healthcare institutions and nursing programs

collaborate to ultimately improve patient care. All four

institutions of higher learning and health care have

innovative leaders who approached crises such as the

nursing shortage as an exciting and challenging opportu-

nity to reshape the role of both staff nurses and clinical

nursing faculty.

doi:10.1016/j.teln.2006.02.009

Leading nursing students to content masteryHeather Payne MSN, RN (Counselor)

Mary Lou Whitten MSN, RN (Director)

Kaskaskia College, Centralia, IL, USA

Sarah is unsuccessful on one major cardiovascular nursing

exam in her cardiovascular/respiratory nursing class, but

overall scores are high enough on the remaining exams to

receive a passing grade in the course. Is the cardiovas-

cular information on the first exam unnecessary? What if

cardiovascular questions appear on the NCLEX exam?

What if, as a graduate associate degree nurse, Sarah is to

care for a cardiovascular patient? In an effort to address

these concerns and prepare competent associate degree

nursing graduates for the nursing profession, the Kaskas-

kia College Associate Degree Nursing Program has

implemented a retesting and tutoring program through

the position of the Will Increase Nursing Success (WINS)

Counselor. Based on a European model, nursing students

must master the information of one content area before

being allowed to proceed to another subject matter.

Retesting coupled with tutoring has significantly de-

creased attrition in Kaskaskia College’s nursing program

Abstracts28

at a time of increasing enrollment and increased faculty/

student ratios.

doi:10.1016/j.teln.2006.02.010

Building bridges to change the face of nursingRosemarie Hirsch MN, RN, CCRN (Assistant Director,

Project Director)

Extended Campus Program/Pipeline to Nursing, Santa Ana

College, Santa Ana, CA

A College Nursing Department was awarded a large,

three-year Nursing Workforce Diversity grant by the

United States Department of Health and Human Services,

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in

fall 2004. This presentation describes the issues, chal-

lenges and rewards of writing, submitting, receiving, and

implementing a grant. This session will provide a

concrete, bnuts and bolts,Q how-to approach to 1) getting

started, 2) moving the grant from the written word to

action, and 3) lessons learned along the way. The

backdrop of this presentation will be a discussion of the

Pipeline to Nursing (PtN) activities and first year out-

comes. The main purpose of the PtN project is to increase

recruitment and retention of disadvantaged groups, specif-

ically Hispanic pre-nursing and nursing students. A series

of targeted activities include 1) recruiting future nurses

from minority–majority junior and senior high schools; 2)

increasing student success in basic skills such as reading,

English, and math; 3) supporting student retention through

learning communities, structured mentoring and tutoring;

and 4) preparing a culturally competent and sensitive

healthcare workforce.

doi:10.1016/j.teln.2006.02.011

Good news: four new faculty are hired! Now what??Ivory Coleman EdD, RN (Professor)

Barbara McLaughlin DNSc, RN (Associate Professor)

Community College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

This presentation will focus on issues related to the current

critical shortage of nurse faculty in associate degree nursing

education. Specifically, this presentation takes into consid-

eration the issue that as nurses, often prepared as nurse

practitioners, become integrated into new teaching oppor-

tunities, they often experience transition issues and do not

have a clear concept of the work of the nurse educator.

In fall 2003 and 2004 four new full-time master’s

prepared nurses joined the faculty at a large urban

community college. Two new hires were recent graduates

of a nurse practitioner program with no teaching experience.

The other two faculty members had taught for years in

diploma programs. The needs of each faculty member were

varied and mentoring and coaching took on wide-ranging

meanings for each new faculty member. This presentation

will focus on strategies used to facilitate the transition of

these new faculty members into an established faculty

group. Strategies included weekly coaching regarding

evaluation methods, suggestions for creative approaches to

instructional techniques, and opportunities for weekly

dialogue about student advisement and development.

As the shortage of nurse educators continues, it

challenges faculty to seek creative ways of recruiting and

mentoring. The concept of bgrow your ownQ faculty will be

explored and discussed. This concept helps nurses to

explore the educator role and begin to appreciate it as an

advanced practice option.

doi:10.1016/j.teln.2006.02.012

Putting the bfunQ into fundamentalsJanet Ritenour MSN, RN,C, CS (Instructor)

Charlotte Stotelmyer MSN, MSEd, CRNP, RN (Instructor)

Elizabeth Barry DPH, MA, MSN, CRNP, GNP, APRN, BC

(Instructor)

The Pennsylvania State University, Fayette, The Eberly

Campus, Uniontown, PA, USA

This presentation will demonstrate various strategies

designed to integrate technology modems into the Funda-

mentals of Nursing course.

Using a specific technology such as ANGEL, supple-

mentary materials will be presented as an adjunct to

course lectures. The purpose of using such strategies is to

motivate the learner to understand basic theoretical

concepts. As a result, the learner will accept responsibility

for the learning process in a fun, non-threatening, and

challenging environment.

The core of the presentation will describe the reality-

based game of Survivor, a proven delivery strategy

successful in bridging the gap between nursing theory and

the introduction of new concepts.

doi:10.1016/j.teln.2006.02.013

Managing learning styles through technologyJuanita Kaness MSN, RN (Professor, Coordinator)

Lehigh Carbon Community College, Schnecksville, PA, USA

Research has identified three major learning styles

among adult learners. Visual learners sit in the front of the

class and need to see the teacher’s face and expressions to

fully understand the concepts presented. Auditory learners

Abstracts 29