Nursing Scholarship and Professional Development

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Description of scholarship journey:
Scholarship typically refers to an award or a financial aid offered to the students for
continuing their education. It should be noted in this context that Scholarship in Nursing is
offered on the basis of a set of specific criteria that clearly reflects the purpose and values of
the founder of the scholarship award. It should further be noted that the scholarship money is
equivalent to a recognition and does not need to be repaid. It is important to note in this
context that the terms scholarships and grants are used interchangeably but does not mean the
same. While grants are exclusively financial aids provided to students for conducting a
particular research, scholarships are dependent on other important aspects as well. Apart from
the financial component, scholarships are dependent on other important factors as well
(Grant, 2014). For instance, in case of Academic scholarships, the minimum qualifying
criteria includes the consideration of standard test scores such as SAT or ACT and
accordingly the eligible candidates are finalised. In the similar manner, the Merit
Scholarships typically include assessing the performance of the candidates to determine
eligibility and the assessment criteria comprises of evaluation of community service or
performance at a particular subject. Grants on the other hand are majorly dependent upon the
financial need of the students and upon the FAFSA (Free Application ForFederal Student
Aid) information furnished by the student.
Scholarships are divided under different categories dependent upon specific criteria. It
should be noted here that the most common type of scholarships include, Merit-based
scholarship, Need-based scholarship, Student specific scholarship, Career specific
scholarship, college specific scholarship, Brand scholarships and creative contest
scholarships. In addition to this, it should also be noted that a number of local scholarships
are also available for deserving students that include scholarships awarded by Guidance

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Counsellors, scholarships awarded by Non-profit Organizations and Charitable Trusts,
Scholarships awarded by community foundations, Voluntary organizations and Enrichment
centres. It is crucial to note here that scholarships play an important role in the field of higher
education. Also, in the field of nursing profession, scholarship plays an important role as it
forms a part of the essential competencies that are required for advancing the scope of
practice for care professionals (Grady & Gough, 2015).
A major proportion of the Nursing educators or academicians are also advanced
practice nurses (APNs). Taking into consideration, such nurse educators are required to
qualify a set of specified competencies so as to be legally permitted the responsibility to
practice within clinical environment (Acorn & Osborne). However, on account of extensive
workload it becomes extremely difficult for the care professionals to devote time to learning
and address the set of competencies set by the Nursing institutions based at U.S for
advancement and promotion within the scope of practice (Allen & Field, 2005). Therefore, it
is broadly recommended that scholarship activities for the Advanced Nurse Practitioners
must include a set of broad criteria and specification during the promotion or the review
process. According to Peterson and Stevens (2013), it has been mentioned that scholarship
application documentation must be made an integral criteria as it is linked to the clinical
guidelines of the APN practice. Further, the authors Peterson and Stevens (2013), are of the
opinion that non-traditional scholarships should also be documented by professionals and
should be appropriately recognised.
The position statement published by the American Association of the Colleges of
Nursing (AACN) critically mentions that the Nursing scholarship can be classified under four
dimensions. The four dimensions can be treated as expansions of the seminal work of Boyer
and comprise of four essential components that include, scholarship of Discovery,

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scholarship of Teaching, Scholarship of Application and Scholarship of Integration (Boyer,
1995).
The academic field is laden with challenges and intense competition. The process can
be deemed extremely complicated when it comes to comparing the procedure for seeking
permanent employment or promotion in the Nursing profession. Briefly, the procedure of
promotion or acquiring tenure can be explained as a Nursing faculty completing a set of
professional reviews for a term of 7 years while working as an Assistant Professor (Fincher &
Work, 2006). On approval of the tenure, the Assistant professor is promoted to the rank of
Associate professor. After serving a tenure of five years as well as providing community
services and producing scholarships, an Assistant professor is eligible to apply for the post of
a professor. It should be crucially noted here that scholarship standards for the Nursing
Professor is similar to other scholarship standards of other academic departments. In this
regard, it should be noted that scholarship procedure for Nursing is somewhat complex and at
the same time challenging as the profession required academic qualification in combination
with a set of additional certification and competencies which are treated as mandatory
government regulation that assure safety in practice activities. Also, the set of certification
and competencies also serve as licensure or legal responsibilities that essentially render safe
practice (Glassick, 2000). In addition to this, it should be noted that Nursingeducators need to
continuously remain updated about the changing healthcare demand of the people and
conduct extensive evidence base research to acquire best understanding about the appropriate
interventions that could be used to impart cure to the patients. Also, clinical practice enable
Nursing educators to critically understand the aspects that play a significant role in
determining the quality of the care provided to the patients within a care setting. However,
one negative aspect of clinical practice can be explained as a significant proportion of time
being taken away from the educators which could be utilised in producing publications and