Scholarship and education: concepts and significance

Scholarship Integration and Effective Care

Boyer's scholarship of integration "seeks to interpret, draw together, and bring new insight to a research study. It includes discovering patterns and making connections between nursing and other disciplines, which brings meaning to the original work. The actions of locating and using evidence-based practice guidelines are within the scholarship scope of integration" (Conrad & Pape, 2014). Conrad & Pape (2014) provide information on the current state of nurse educators, with knowledge that can be applied to a multidisciplinary approach to caring for pediatric asthma clients in a community In contrast, Maurana, Wolff, Beck, & Simpson (2001) review four evidence-based models in order to document and evaluate activities that are both scholarly and applicable to communities. These propose a new model, that can provide insight into the teaching and learning that comes with nursing education. Though it is an older article, it provides historical perspectives on community scholarship, along with a "new" (for the time) model.

This model extends the definition of what makes up a local community, so it can create a national toolkit that will work better for the scope of integration that needs to be created. For myself, it provides an appreciation of the journey of the nurse educator. As I grew up in a rural Midwestern farming community, this type of multidisciplinary collaboration and scholarship was a basic necessity. That was due to the lack of healthcare resources. The formal position of nurse educator was nonexistent at that time, and every nurse performed as an educator in the only 45-bed hospital in the entire county. Each nurse was required to function in all areas, with an eye toward grassroots networking for innovative solutions. As a psychiatric nurse, mental health is a vital community issue to me, as well. The stigma and fear around mental illness persists, even though there is much more education regarding it today. As nurse educators, we each can encourage nurses at all levels of practice to partake in NAMI's free training for healthcare professionals. That will help these nurses improve collaborative care on the clients' path to recovery. Through exposure to personal stories, participants can gain tools that increase their empathy and professional skills, which will also improve patient care.

Effective care requires a multi-disciplinary approach in order for it to be successful. In order to manage or prevent diseases and maintain proper health, the whole patient has to be treated. Illness does not just happen. It comes through a combination of family history, behaviors, environmental factors, cognition, psychological state, and cultural beliefs, all of which impact the health of patients. Prevention of childhood obesity has become a passion for me, since it is caused primarily by a lack of good nutrition and exercise. This can be due to limited financial resources for parents, unsafe neighborhoods, lack of facilities for recreation, depression, food preparation, and other components. I would love to collaborate with members of the community, the local health clinic, parents, nutritionist, therapists, fitness trainers, doctors, nurses, and students in order to develop a campaign for healthy futures.