STRATEGIES, PRINCIPLES AND CHALLENGES OF COACHING (NURSING) STUDENTS

At one of the School of Nursing in Hawaii, students come from a diverse background. Nursing educators come to the classroom ready to engage students with different learning styles with hopes to successfully prepare them to pass their board (NCLEX) exam after graduation. These nursing educators also play a key role in advising these students throughout their 4 year journey in nursing school. Student support services such as tutoring were in place to promote student success. The students have one goal: to be a registered nurse someday. With a new program presents some challenges. One of the challenges is the successful passing of the board exam for the graduates. One of the faculty decided to start a coaching project over the summer of 2015 with the intent to help nursing graduates succeed to pass their board exam.

After the start of the project, the faculty realized that the intent to help the graduates can be expanded to help current nursing students. Literature review was conducted to include but not limited to predictability of success to pass NCLEX, teaching and learning approaches, coaching, and remediation. One consistent strategy that seems to emerge during the project was individualized coaching. Additional effective strategies that were implemented were communication of clear expectations to students, establishment of an active learning environment with student accountability, consistent evaluation of student outcomes, and providing rewards for student performance. The key principle of mindful compassion was a beginning epiphany for the faculty who started the coaching project. In addition, emotional intelligence and readiness to change were evident in the graduates’ approach to learning and their success. Despite success in some graduates that were coached, there were some challenges. The biggest challenges are the number of graduates that were coached by one faculty and the accountability of the graduates to their study plan.

As a result of the above summer project, the School of Nursing decided to start a remediation initiative using the strategies and principles to help current students prepare for their NCLEX. The philosophy of “Know Thyself” became the mantra of the project and the initiative that follows. The presentation will provide the foundation for the summer project and will expound on the current initiative. Information about understanding gaps in teaching and learning through the systems theory, student approach to learning theory and knowledge base, anxiety and test taking framework are key frameworks to understand. Working with at risk students to be successful include aspects of presencing, right level of involvement, living with faculty judgments and empowering interviews. Student anonymous written feedback on the summer project and current student unsolicited feedback will be shared. Lead faculty on the project and initiative will share its reflections.