Nursing Facilitator's Role: Facilitating Student Learning and Practice

This essay explores the vital role of a nursing facilitator in the healthcare sector, emphasizing their significance in student learning and the enhancement of nursing practice. The essay defines the responsibilities of a nursing facilitator, which include preparing students for clinical experiences, fostering a positive learning environment, and evaluating student performance. It highlights the necessary qualifications, such as a nursing degree, clinical experience, and specific skills like observational abilities and the capacity for continual research. The essay also discusses the barriers that may hinder a facilitator's performance, such as lack of resources and student interest. Furthermore, the author outlines their personal goals to become a nurse facilitator, emphasizing the importance of being a responsible, open-minded, and supportive mentor. The essay underscores the facilitator's role in addressing the evolving needs of the healthcare sector by guiding nursing students to meet the complex demands of patient care.

1Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of student:
Name of university:
Author note:

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What is the facilitator and the role model for nursing student as a facilitator?
A nurse facilitator is a registered nurse who has involvement in present nursing
practice and engages in the facilitation of student learning off and in campus clinical setting
as well as other settings. The role is of prime importance in the present era since there is a
sharp increase in the demand for nursing professionals who contribute to student learning for
better care service delivery (Butterworth & Faugier, 2013). The role of nursing facilitator
emerged against the need of professionals who can lead and guide nurses to complete their
educational requirements and gain professionalism to address the diverse and complex health
needs of patients under different situations. At present, the healthcare sector is facing a
number of challenging in addressing patient needs since an ageing population and complex
health issues are a growing concern. Against the light of the scarcity of nursing leadership
and guidance provided by senior professionals to nursing students, the inability of the latter
group of professionals to work in high-in-demand settings is prominent. Based on this
scenario the role of nursing facilitator has emerged (Mikkonen et al., 2015).
A nursing facilitator is responsible for assisting students to develop the attitudes,
skills and knowledge required for successful practice in the different clinical environment as
a registered nurse in the initial stages. The facilitator is supposed to act as a professional role
model for all nursing students. In addition, a facilitator is required to foster a positive
relationship with agencies that are crucial for enhancement of learning experiences of
learners. The facilitator is engaged in a role that has three domains of responsibility;
preparing learners for clinical learning experiences, fostering the clinical learning experience,
and evaluating the clinical learning experiences (Billings & Halstead, 2015). The essential
qualifications and skills for a facilitator include the following-
• A degree in Nursing with minimum three years of broad clinical nursing experience

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• A current and unrestricted annual licence certificate issued by the concerned nursing
board
• A post-graduation qualification in any area that is being under focus and that the nurse is
working towards
• Knowledge of curriculum of nursing universities
• Clinical expertise in the domain of practice
As opined by Mceneaney et al., (2013) the prime factors that act as facilitators to the
efficient performance of the role of the facilitator are suitable knowledge and clinical
expertise. Individuals who have an in-depth knowledge of the area that in being practised can
become eminent facilitators. However, certain barriers are also present in this regard. These
include absence of a suitable learning environment, lack of student interests, the poor
infrastructure of the educational setting and gaps in the curriculum being considered.
As a registered nurse, my personal goal is becoming a nurse facilitator in future. The
key skills that I would need to exhibit for becoming a facilitator include observational skills,
participation, reflection on own practice, engagement in continual research. For attaining the
role, I aim at developing myself as a responsible person who is sensitive to differences among
learners and is insightful of self and others as professionals. I would thrive to be tolerant and
open-minded and act as a source of information for nursing students. In addition, I would
work with all concerned stakeholders to promote education. Lastly, my future practice would
consider developing assessment skills as applicable to student learning.

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References
Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2015). Teaching in Nursing-E-Book: A Guide for Faculty.
Elsevier Health Sciences.
Butterworth, T., & Faugier, J. (2013). Clinical supervision and mentorship in nursing.
Springer.
Mceneaney, S., Wu, K., Ramrup, N., & Schloms, A. (2013, May). Implementation Of Nurse
Facilitator Role: Coordinating Care Across The Continuum For Cancer Patients—
blending Roles To Optimize Patient Care. In Oncology Nursing Forum (Vol. 40, No.
3, pp. E159-E160).
Mikkonen, K., Kyngäs, H., & Kääriäinen, M. (2015). Nursing students’ experiences of the
empathy of their teachers: a qualitative study. Advances in Health Sciences
Education, 20(3), 669-682.