7: REFLECTIVE RESPONSE ■ 201Additionally, MSN programs that are designed to prepare educators must
acknowledge that they have a responsibility to help students develop the knowledge
and skills related to how to teach (e.g., teaching strategies, assessment/ evaluation
methods, and/ or curriculum development). However, they also need to help students
develop a stronger foundation of what they are likely to teach and, therefore, courses
related to the sciences that underlie clinical practice (e.g., physiology, pathophysiology,
and pharmacology) and to clinical knowledge and skill (e.g., assessment, major health
problems) need to be included.
As is occurring in the larger higher education community, it is time for our pro-
fession to think more clearly about the kind of preparation educators need to take on
the awesome responsibilities associated with influencing how students think, how they
practice, and the identities they assume as nurses, as citizens, as members of our profes-
sion, and as human beings living in a complex and highly diverse world. We want our
students to value diversity and inclusiveness. Perhaps it is time that the academic world
does the same.
■ WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “INCLUSION?” WHAT MEANING DOES
THE CONCEPT HAVE FOR NURSE EDUCATORS?
There is extensive discussion in academe today about diversity and inclusiveness.
Such discussions are essential as we engage with students and faculty from in-
creasingly varied backgrounds, in varied living situations, speaking varied native
languages, of varied race and ethnicity, and aiming toward varied goals and aspi-
rations. However, many such discussions focus primarily on racial and ethnic di-
versity (and, in nursing, on gender diversity), oftentimes failing to acknowledge the
many other ways in which we are different and the need to be inclusive of all those
differences.
Perhaps schools of nursing need to engage in serious discussions of the extent to
which those with expertise in education are valued, rewarded, embraced, and included.
To what extent are such faculty— whether they hold a PhD, DNP, EdD, DrPH, or other
credential— and the expertise they bring respected, supported, rewarded for demon-
strating their scholarly and other contributions in nontraditional ways, and granted
tenure?
Those who enact the educator role need to be appropriately prepared for it, val-
ued, appreciated for the various forms of scholarship in which they engage, and com-
pensated appropriately. Without such elements in place, the nursing faculty shortage
described by the authors of this chapter will only exacerbate, and exceptional prepa-
ration of the workforce needed to care for diverse populations in this ever- changing,
technology- enhanced, complex, challenging world.
■ CONCLUSION
The authors of this chapter are to be commended for highlighting the many conun-
drums that exist related to the role of the educator and the preparation for that role. It is
hoped that the nursing profession will continue to address such conundrums through
open discourse and open minds.