Nursing

Teaching Nursing Using the Ignatian Principles

Kelly P. Beischel, RN, MSN, M.EDd, NCSN
Mentor: Cecile Walsh, MSN, RN, CNS (Nursing)

When I was asked if I would like to participate in the Ignatian mentoring program, it was with trepidation that I agreed. I am a full-time doctoral student as well as a full-time faculty member. I was not sure I could give it the time it deserved or even wanted to. However, I was afraid to pass up the opportunity to delve into the Ignatian principles with Cecile Walsh and Cathy Leahy. I am fortunate that I said yes.

We were asked to incorporate the Ignatian principles into a course we were teaching in the Spring semester. The decision to incorporate this project in the Senior Seminar class was an easy one. I believe nurses naturally manifest the Ignatian principles and I wanted the senior nursing students to express how they visualize themselves using these principles as nurses.

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Integrating Ignatian Principles into ABSN Concepts of Mental Health Nursing (NURS 300)

Diana Boling, MSN, RN-BC, CNL
Mentor: Tammy L. Sonnentag, Ph.D. (Psychology)

In the Fall of 2019, I discovered the opportunity to do the Ignatian Mentoring Program (IMP) and have enjoyed being paired with a mentor to learn more about being a Xavier University Professor. I had been working for Xavier since 2017 as an adjunct in the now College of Nursing, and had graduated from XU’s MIDAS program. I felt confident in my understanding of the culture of Xavier to be able to manage my new Teaching Professor role and welcomed the professional development mentorship would allow in my formative years of teaching. I had been teaching for five years as a clinical nursing adjunct in various programs at this point, and did not yet foresee the obstacles of new professorship when I had signed up to participate in IMP. 

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Mindful Minute as a Strategy for Self-Care

Jennifer Bradley, Ph.D, RN, AHN-BC
Mentor: Kathleen Winterman, Ed.D. (Education)

In the fall of 2015, I was a member of the Ignatian Mentoring Program. Based on the philosophy of the program, I planned to integrate one of the tenets of the Ignatian Mission into a nursing course in spring 2016. NURS 498 Senior Seminar is a course taken by the senior BSN students in their final semester at Xavier University. The class meets weekly throughout the semester. A strong emphasis within the course is to facilitate and guide the students as they transition from student to professional nurse.

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Incorporating Discernment and Reflection in a Classroom

Melissa Gallo, DNP, RN, CPN
Mentor: Stacey Raj, PhD

In the Fall of 2023 the Ignoration Mentoring Program provided a chance for me to incorporate an Ignatian Pedagogy into a course I had taught a previous year. I had been reflecting on this course and looking at ways to bring in reflection where nursing students could discern and reflect on not only their practice, but how they bring their entire self to care for others. I worked closely with Stacey Raj, my mentor, where I shared my own thoughts on how to incorporate Ignatian characteristics into the classroom.

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Cura Personalis: The Gift of the MIDAS Student (Nursing 565 - Art and Science of Nursing Practicum)

Barbara Harland R.N., M.S.N. M.Ed.
Mentor: Margaret King, R.N., Ph.D. (Nursing)

I joined the Xavier faculty family in the fall of 2005. This year marked a new venture for the Nursing program at Xavier. The nursing department launched their new nursing program called MIDAS. The program allows students who have an undergraduate degree in a non-nursing discipline to seek a graduate degree in nursing. I was assigned to teach the fundamentals nursing lab practicum, the second semester medical-surgical clinical, and to facilitate preceptor experiences in both the psychiatric and complex care clinical areas.

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Integrating Jesuit Values in an Accelerated Bachelors of Nursing
Clinical Course: Creating space to explore that which is Profoundly Human

Elizabeth W. Hodar, MSN, BSBA, RN
Mentor: Ashley Varol, PhD

The nursing practice and caring for humans is one that marries beautifully with Jesuit values. My years of practicing and training with the talented women and men who are the backbone of our healthcare system have been time spent with the most caring, team oriented, persons continuously challenging themselves to learn more and give more. The hospital gown is the great leveler…as professionals, nurses never care about your politics or profession, religious background or social standing …we see a person and act diligently to provide care. We help the laboring mother deliver her baby, support the mentally ill, assist with the operation to remove the tumor, provide life-saving medications and measures to restart a heart, educate the diabetic to regain their health, hold the hand of the dying... It is a profession that is transformative intellectually, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Nurses are present with human beings at all the important milestones of life and death and the seemingly mundane times of life as well…but present to assist, educate, help and heal. The depth and richness of the human experience is part of our everyday work. As a nurse educator, I feel a sense of responsibility and feel the privilege of having a hand in preparing our next generation of nurses for this transformational profession at a time of critical crossroads in health care. I feel strongly that Jesuit values will provide a scaffold for our nursing students and new nurses to navigate these often profoundly human experiences as well as the challenges in health care.

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Journaling as a Strategy for Developing Reflective Practitioners Families in Transition Practicum NURS 373 and Adult Transitions Practicum NURS 361

Cathy Leahy, MSN, M.Ed., RN
Mentor: Cecile Walsh, MSN, RN, CNS (Nursing)

The Ignatian Mentoring Program provided the opportunity in the fall of 2006 for me to spend dedicated time with my friend and colleague, Cecile Walsh. Because Cecile mentored two people, I was fortunate in that I was also able to share this experience with Kelly Beischel a friend from the College of Nursing. I gained an even greater appreciation of Ignatian spirituality through our discussions. As a result of this sharing I chose to incorporate Ignatian characteristics into the curriculum through journaling which would serve as a strategy for 60 junior year nursing students and six faculty members to reflect on how they incorporate Ignatian characteristics into their daily living.

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Cura Personalis:  Teaching nurses to care for the whole “Patient”

Jondra Long, MS, BSN, RN (Nursing)
Mentor: Julie Kugler-Ackley, M.Ed. (Montessori Education)

The Ignatius Mentorship program has been an amazing experience for me.   I joined Xavier University ABSN program in November 2018 in the middle of the semester.   I had been a nurse for over twenty-five years in a hospital setting in many areas of leadership, teaching and mentoring, but this was my first experience in academia.

I learned very quickly how the Xavier University Jesuit core values are a part of all areas of teaching within nursing.  My favorite core value was Cura Personalis.  I embraced the meaning of caring for the whole person, so I have adopted it into my course for nursing as caring for the whole “patient- body, mind and spirit”.  I believe nursing is a calling, not just a profession. It takes a person with a heart for others to become a nurse.  If they go into nursing for any other reason it may not be as rewarding.  I now teach all of my students, starting on their first day of class at Xavier ABSN program, that we will be incorporating Cura Personalis into all we do. I believe in patient-center care, which also cares for the entire person and their family as well.  

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Jesuit Values Guiding Clinical Decision Making

Heather Moore, DNP, MSN, BSN, RN, CNL

Education programs at Xavier University are founded on Jesuit Values, which guide faculty, administration, and staff to support students inside the classroom and in the real world. While completing their nursing education, students at Xavier University are also guided on how to integrate Jesuit Values into their daily practice. While students may have a strong grasp on these values, there is often a disconnect regarding how these can be used in healthcare practice.

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Community Nursing Practicum (NURS 443)

Cecile Walsh, MSN, RN, CNS
Mentor: Ginger McKenzie, Ph.D. (Education)

In the Fall of 2004, being a member of the Ignatian Mentoring Program, I was given the challenge of integrating the Ignatian mission into a course that I would teach in the Spring semester. I chose the course NURS 443, Community Nursing Practicum. This course is unique to the university in that it is a "bridge" course. In the College of Nursing we refer to courses that segue a registered nurse (RN) without a college degree into master level courses as "bridge" courses. The typical student in this course has an RN license from a diploma nursing program or associate degree program. Often the student is middle aged as will be evident in the student profile that follows. I chose this group because the required course is offered before these students begin graduate work and therefore occurs early in their years at Xavier. I also chose this group because they are adult learners. Adult learners are always challenging and I believed that they may not have been exposed to the Ignatian mission.

Paper presented at the Nurse Educator Institute, Branson, MO, March 31-April 3, 2009 and at the Association of Community Health Nurse Educators National Conference, Chicago, IL, June 11-13, 2009.

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