A Reflection on Adult Learning Perspective in Nursing free essay sample

A Reflection on adult learning perspective in nursing Introduction: This essay reflects my integrative learning experience during my second-degree nursing class. There is limited data available on effective teaching skills for adult learning program. This reflection helps in identifying successful learning tools and assessing different strategies in current nursing program. We worked in groups to work for the program and my reflection is about my experience of learning throughout this program. For this study program we used qualitative research design which helps in finding the effects of integrative learning as a model and how it improves nursing student outcomes. The used focus groups enhanced the learning process and outcomes. Most data about accelerated baccalaureate programs are anecdotal (McDonald, 1995), with limited research data available on effective teaching strategies and effective teaching tools (Cangelosi Whitt, 2005). Reviews in literature: In response to the nursing shortage in 1980s, accelerated BSN programs were started. A 13-month program was established at  Johns Hopkins University  based on a model developed at St. We will write a custom essay sample on A Reflection on Adult Learning Perspective in Nursing or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Louis University in 1971 (Cangelosi Whitt, 2005; Shiber, 2003). In 1990’s new teaching models were developed to fulfill the needs of second-degree students (Shell Wassem, 1994; Shiber, 2003; Vinal Whitman, 1994). Often, the early programs failed to tailor the second degree curriculum to adult learners and, instead, integrated the curriculum with that of traditional undergraduate students, leading to challenges for both faculty and learners (Anderson, 2002; Vinal Whitman, 1994). In a research study on teaching and learning strategies, Cangelosi and Whitt (2005) described that adult learners always want evidence-based solutions of their questions and show interest in programs that helps in career development. Wu and Connelly (1992) stated that all programs need to be based on unique learning methods and give support to adult learners. They described it as challenging, autonomous, vocal about all their learning needs and especially self-directed adult learners. Shell and Wassem (1994) discussed in their writings the fears, lack of knowledge about innovative teaching and faculty attitudes which according to them are barriers for the innovations in adult learning programs. Innovative curriculum models, such as the ACE model at  Drexel University  (Suplee Glasgow, 2008) and the CAN-Care, practice-based model (Raines, 2006), were developed to address identified  adult learner  needs, nursing education competencies and outcomes, and faculty student interaction. It is revealed from literature that adult students wanted more time in clinical labs to build confidence and improve their competency. Learner feedback is very important to evaluate multiple teaching strategies included interactive technology, simulation, contemporary topics, case studies and concept mapping in clinical cases. Methodology for this study: Whole of our study was designed to assess an integrative and transformative learning model. It was designed for the adult learners and used a qualitative data with cohort of second-degree students in nursing. Method evaluating outcomes for nursing education in existing accelerated programs has been identified as essential for program development (Korvick Williamson, 2006). Focus groups, an effective, time-efficient, and practical approach for providing data on  program evaluation, outcomes, and needs (Kress Shoffner, 2007), were conducted just as the program began and at the end of the program. Our focus groups were integrated into â€Å"Transitions-Professional Nursing Practice† and â€Å"Introduction to Professional Nursing† courses. We were in a batch of 25 students who began a 15 months second-degree program on August 4 in 2010. We all completed a personal statement to follow the admission process in this second-degree program. We all students signed a consent form and were asked to fill a demographic survey form. This survey was about our previous education and recent occupation and work settings. We all submitted the filled copies of that survey. We all in the focus group use 5-point Likert scale. This scale was used to fill a questionnaire regarding our selection of this program and our views of nursing as our career in future. The questionnaire having four statements was based on adult career development theory. A. I think my choice of nursing profession a career change B. I am drawn to the nursing profession because of job security and stability. C. I am drawn to the nursing profession because it gives opportunity to directly contribute to the work in my surroundings D. This nursing profession gives opportunity to use my skills and talents to help needy people around me. The whole data collected was submitted to the program director (PI). Project director was the first to teach our focus group class. We were also asked to mention any other objective or incentive of joining the nursing profession. The date collected was summarized and was sent to all participating faculties of this adult-learning program. All students have to submit a 45- minute focus group questions at our first day of the program. The questions were based on the 2006 Council for Adult and Experiential  Learning National Adult Learners Satisfaction-Priorities Report (Noel-Levitz   CAEL, 2006). We were given a set of 10 questions to start the discussion from the project director. Those questions focused on student learning requirements and expectations from this program. The project director collected all that data and discussed it with all faculty teachers of the program. Those teachers were assigned to teach use the summer and fall courses. Later those faculty members integrated the data collected from the focus group and plan their teaching courses. All participating faculties shared their teaching strategies with each other and with the project director. They arranged one-on-one meetings to work on the faculty development during the whole program. The project director conducted faculty development activities with individual, self-selected members who taught second-degree cohort. The project director scheduled a mid- semester check-in with the focused group and all the participating faculties. All the concerned of those meeting were based on the adaptive measures with teaching strategies by the faculty to work on the learning requirements of the adult-learners of the program. The faculty submitted summary of the reports at the mid-semester meetings on how they integrated the data and revised their teaching strategies during the program. The faculty followed the same procedure of data collecting and sharing after the program. They submitted report on adaptive measures they took for teaching during their first mid semester meeting. There was no need of submitting such report at the end of the program. At the end of the adult- learner program, a final focus group was held. This focus group was of one hour. We have to answer 10 original questions. Then the data collected from that focus group was shared with the project director and other faculty members. They discussed the success of that program and how helpful this experience for their future programs. Discussion: We outlined the demographic characteristics of all the students in the second-degree cohort for adult-learning program. Characteristics such as gender,  marital status, race, and age  conform to  characteristics noted in a national study by Wu and Connelly (1992) for accelerated BSN programs. All students in the program showed different educational experiences and have different occupations. They come from occupations like teaching or library assistant, medical technician, nursing unit secretary, financial consultant, sales representative, medical record checker, business owner, medical health coordinator. Our faculty identified our needs at the start of the program and adapted all the teaching strategies. This all will help in building the qualities in all students during the adult learner program. Through this study we receive feedback at different learning levels of the program. This helped in adaptation and responsiveness that could be further integrated for teaching plans. Continuous feedback and the focus group helped us with the understanding of the fact why the students chose this adult-learner program. Faculty development meetings discussed all these issues at priority. We integrated from the focused group that almost 70 percent of the student considered this nursing program as a career change. 60 per cent of the adult learns came here and chose nursing profession for job security and stability. The data collected from the focus group revealed that our nursing profession helped us to contribute positively to the world. Almost 98 students in our focus groups considered that Nursing profession would give opportunities to positively use our talents and skills.

Aphasia †Communication Impairment

Aphasia – Communication Impairment Free Online Research Papers Aphasia is a general term used to describe one or more disorders that have caused the loss or impairment of the ability to speak or communicate. (Akmajian Demers, and Harnish 1979:306) This can be caused by disease ( such as a brain tumor), dementia, stroke or physical injury to the brain itself. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) estimates that 80,000 people acquire aphasia every year and that approximately one million people in the U.S. have currently been diagnosed, most of these have been due to stroke. (www.nidcd.nih.gov) In this paper I will be addressing the varied causes of aphasia, its effect on language and its treatment. It would be nearly impossible to talk of aphasia without addressing its root causes, which is usually damage to one of the two major language centers of the brain that are often associated with this illness, namely, Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. In 1861 a French surgeon named Paul Broca described a patient with severe speech impairment; after the patient died it was revealed that they had sustained an injury to the posterior inferior part of the left frontal lobe (see fig. 1). This area is now known as Broca’s area (Akmajian Demers, and Harnish 1979:307). A little over a decade after Broca’s findings, in 1874 a German physician, Karl Wernicke, described patients with brain lesions who also had severe speech deficits; the lesions however were not located in Broca’s area. The damage had occurred in another area, the left posterior temporal lobe (see fig. 1). These findings together led to the inference that these two areas of the brain play crucial but different roles in speech and communication. Damage to these areas manifests itself differently, leading to separate but similar pathologies. Damage to Broca’s area results in what is termed Broca’s aphasia which is also called nonfluent or motor aphasia. (Clark, Eschholz and Rosa 1998:637) This kind of aphasia is characterized by short, halting, agrammatical speech that is often devoid of articles and prepositions. We are given this example from a patient with Broca’s aphasia; â€Å"The patient is trying to describe a picture showing a boy stealing cookies from a cookie jar while his chair is tipping over; a little girl is helping him. Their mother stands at the window staring into space while the sink in front of her overflows.† (Clark, Eschholz and Rosa 1998:637) Cookie jar†¦fall over†¦chair†¦water†¦empty†¦ov†¦ov†¦[Examiner: â€Å"overflow?†] Yeah. (637) Through Wernicke’s research he found that people without damage to Broca’s area but with damage to the temporal lobe where Wernicke’s area is located, developed speech pathologies that were quite different from Broca’s aphasia. Patients suffering from Wernicke’s aphasia often have little or no trouble producing long sentences with proper grammar. The speech itself though is often unintelligible with unnecessary and/or made up words. (Clark, Eschholz and Rosa 1998:637-38) In the text of Language: Readings in language and culture, a patient with Wernicke’s aphasia attempts to describe the same picture that the aforementioned Broca’s aphasiatic tried to describe: Well, this is†¦mother is away here working out o’here to get her better, but when she’s working, the two boys looking in the other part. One their small tile into her time here. She’s working another time because she’s getting too. (638) This led Wernicke to create the first model of language processing in the brain. Wernicke proposed that the words and meanings are stored in Wernicke’s area, after drawing a word from this area the thought is transmitted to Broca’s area by way of a bundle of nerves called the arcuate fasciculus. Once it reaches Broca’s area the sound structure of the intended speech is sent to the motor cortex where it then is transmitted as various commands to the physical areas related to speech (tongue, lips etc). Finally, language emerges. (Clark, Eschholz and Rosa 1998:638) Aphasia is not always as clear cut as the preceding paragraphs seem to make it however. Factors such as the location of the injury, the patient’s age and health are all complicit in how severe the aphasia is and how it expresses itself. (nidcd.nih.gov/) Often in the case of Broca’s aphasia partial paralysis may occur as it is quite close to the motor cortex. It can also manifest itself in areas other than oral communication such as reading and writing, and in fact is often more severe in these areas. To further complicate matters, the same types of aphasia do not have the same symptoms in different languages, causing researchers to search for language specific symptoms and universal symptoms. (nidcd.nih.gov/) The diagnosis of aphasia can be performed by a speech pathologist who can examine the patient’s ability to comprehend speech, communicate orally, read and write. Other factors are also taken into account such as the ability to swallow, the ability to follow directions, both simple and complex. After this the mode of treatment that is best suited to the individual can be determined. (nidcd.nih.gov/) The basic form of treatment involves work with the speech pathologist to focus on specific aspects of language that have been affected by the brain. Exercises such as naming objects and following directions can be increased in complexity as the patient improves. Sometimes it may be better, or even necessary, for a patient to communicate primarily with the use of gestures and symbols. One such patient, Chil, had a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of his brain leaving him with little more than his right hand and arm to communicate with, though he could say three words, Yes, No and And.( McNeill 2000:84) Chil and his family were able to communicate through these three words combined with a series of hand gestures. Though the process can be time consuming it works for Chil and his family. McNeill describes a situation in which Chil would like to invite an additional two people for dinner: With hindsight it is possible to see Chil wants to invite two additional guests, Mack and June to dinner. However, it takes intricate, temporally unfolding work for his interlocutors to discover this. (85-86) Gestures may not be able to replace the intricacies that spoken language provides but it does serve as a useful and valid means of expression. There are also group therapy sessions which may help the patient use new conversational skills. The NIDCD website lists some pointers for family members. Family members are encouraged to simplify their language, encourage the individual to communicate in whatever way they can, inclusion into decision making and in conversation. It is also recommended that they do not correct their speech and that they encourage them to become involved with activities out side of the home including stroke clubs which are regional support groups for people who have suffered a stroke. New research into drug treatment has shown hope as the NIDCD website states: Pharmacotherapy is a new, experimental approach to treating aphasia. Some studies are testing how drugs can be used in combination with speech therapy to improve recovery of various language functions by increasing the task-related flow of activation in the left hemisphere of the brain. These studies indicate that drugs may help improve aphasia in acute stroke and as an adjuvant to language therapy in post acute and chronic aphasia. Science and medicine have improved and advanced significantly since the days of Paul Broca and Karl Wernicke. Scientists are now using machines like MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) to create 3d virtual versions individual brains to study the inner workings of the brain and its pathologies. Something that Broca and Wernicke could never have imagined. Though there is less obfuscation concerning the inner workings of the brain and of the processes that lead to the comprehension and use of language in all its forms, aphasia is still a real concern that for some is nearly or completely crippling. References Akmajian, Demers and Robert M. Harnish 1975 Linguistics: An introduction to Language and Communication. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press Clark, Eschholz and Alfred F. Rosa 1998 Language: Readings in Language and Culture. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s D’Esposito, Mark 2003 Neurological Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience. Cambridge: The MIT Press McNeill, David 2000 Language and Gesture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2006 National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Electronic document, nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/aphasia.asp, accessed September 8, 2006 Research Papers on Aphasia - Communication ImpairmentArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Analysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementQuebec and CanadaThe Fifth HorsemanMind TravelAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion