Nursing Faculty Bring New Curriculum Nationwide
(L-R): Prisca Anuforo, DNP, executive director of the Kean University School of Nursing, Kean Lecturers Chrysanthe Patestos and Donette Walker, DNP, and Neal Rosenberg, Ph.D., dean of the University of Detroit Mercy College of Health Professions, at the AACN Baccalaureate Education Conference in New Orleans.
Three Kean University nursing faculty members created a new nursing education model that is being introduced across the nation.
Lecturers Chrysanthe Patestos and Donette Walker, DNP, and School of Nursing Executive Director Prisca Anuforo, DNP, launched the Integrative Student Growth Model (ISGM), a student-centric model that builds on the individual strengths of each student in a holistic, inclusive and interconnected way.
“Teamwork was the key in the discovery of our theory,” Anuforo said. “We all brought our experiences together to create something big.”
Anuforo said they created the new theory while they were revising Kean’s nursing curriculum to be relevant for the University’s students.
“Nurses work with interprofessional healthcare teams in a holistic way in clinical settings, and our model brings that into the classroom,” Patestos said. “We look at where the students are coming from — their culture, prior experience and knowledge — and create an interconnected, respectful and inclusive classroom environment.”
The Kean nursing faculty presented their research at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Baccalaureate Education Conference in New Orleans in November and won the 2018 Excellence in Scholarship award. They took first place against some of the nation’s top universities such as Colombia University, the University of North Carolina, Penn State University and 60 others.
As a result of winning the highest honor, the ISGM has been introduced on a national level where it will be tested through research to become further refined.
“The birth of a new model is a major step in adding to the body and knowledge of any discipline,” Patestos said. “It is, of course, professionally and personally gratifying to receive an award for hard work, but what will be even more rewarding is the transformation in nursing education we hope will occur as a result of applying the ISGM in practice.”