FOUNDATIONS OF NURSING EDUCATION

EVALUATIVE EXERCISES

Answered By:
Jessie A. Herrera, RN

1.) If you are to choose between idealism and pragmatism, which belief
would you adapt to guide you in framing the curricula of nursing
education?

For me it would be pragmatism, but I’m not totally ignoring the philosophy of idealism.
The problem in idealism are the issues are really not likely to actually matter in practice.
For instance, abortion: I am absolutely pro-life, and consider the issue of abortion to be a
huge spiritual battle, but when it comes down to it, electing a pro-life candidate is highly
unlikely to change any of the legislation.

I believe that interaction with the environment is a key part of education, and that’s
pragmatist. Education should extend outside of the classroom. Life is a constant learning
process in itself. If we compared how much time we learn in classrooms to the amount
we learn out of them, there is no comparison. If a Basic Life Support class is learning
how to use their first aid skills out there in the open, then that is exactly what they should
do, literally. Another part of my epistemology is problem solving. Once again I find
myself siding with the pragmatist view. There are many people who are "book smart", but
not so many of those people can practically apply that knowledge. SKA (Skill,
Knowledge and Attitude) are what makes it for me as a nurse, and not just pure
knowledge. Theories were done to be put into practice. Today's system praises short-term
memory. Far too many subjects are taught and then forgotten. If we desire to retain
information then it must be useful and interesting to us. Knowledge has definitely taken a
back seat to the test score. It is very possible to obtain an "A", in a subject but not
actually learn anything about it. Today's society values grades, not knowledge. They are
two very different things.

2.) Explain the concept of John Dewey that the school is a miniature of
society.

Since miniature means of a smaller size than normal, this explains that John Dewey
considered school is the mini version of a society. a society engaged in a continual
process of democratic joint inquiry, a “planning” society that collaboratively adjusted
itself and its shared goals to a constantly changing environment, aiming always to deepen
the possibilities for actualizing individual capacities in the midst of collective efforts.
The school is a miniature community as john Dewey said. It provides for social and
individual growth. He rejected the teaching of subjects for their own sake. Any subject is
merely a means and not a end in itself. It is the means by which the individual
reconstructs his experience, extracts its meaning and thereby prepares himself for the
future. Even freedom is itself a means. The only freedom with enduring importance is the
intellectual freedom of observation and judgment exercised for an intrinsically worthy
end or purpose. Education is a reorganization of experience which adds meaning and
ability in the directing of subsequent experience. The subject matter of the school should
consist of facts which are observed, remembered, read, discussed and suggested for the
purpose of solving some felt problem. Interest and motivation are essential elements in
the learning process.

3.) If you are to occupy a position in CHED, what educational would you
propose in terms of improving quality of education in the Philippines? Or in
the Nursing curriculum?

Focusing in Nursing for that matter, I would propose some basic foreign language
subjects and not just English. This is because the ultimate goal of most Filipino nurses is
to go abroad and earn more money. Since this is the case, I will include subjects that will
help our Nursing student communicate better with foreigners speaking languages other
than English. I will equip our new nurses with new tools so that they will be updated to
the new trends in Nursing world, and that would be in the area of communication.

4.) Describe Nursing Education in the 21st century?

Many new medical breakthroughs, disease processes, threats of disease, or innovations in

medical and health care technology are emerging this 21st century. The World Health
Organization warns us to prepare for a potential worldwide Bird Flu and AH1N1 flu
epidemic, terrorists threaten us with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and new
protocols for ACLS (Advance Cardiac Life Support) are released. We, nurses are getting
hard to catch up

Nursing education provides the basic building blocks of medical, scientific, and nursing
knowledge, but competence in the nursing profession requires an ongoing process of
continuing education. Continuing education for nurses is necessary for the nurse to
remain up to date with the latest practice issues and it is necessary for patient’s safety as
well. Some countries have made continuing education for nurses mandatory and require a
certain number of course credit hours be attained before license renewal, or require
certain mandatory course subjects, while other nation leave it to the nursing professional
themselves to accept a personal responsibility for their own continued learning.
Regardless of whether nursing continuing education courses are mandatory in ones state
or not, all nurses who describe themselves as professionals need to be willing and ready

to implement change in their own practice by realizing that competence in any profession
requires periodic updating.

5.) The Philippine Nurse’s Association made a stand against some schools
who are offering Practical Nursing in the Philippines. What could be the
basis of this opposition against this course?

Let me first define Practical Nursing. Practical Nursing is the practice of nursing under
the supervision or direction of a registered nurse, licenses physician, or dentist. Since
there are already a vast number of registered nurses here in the Philippines and still
growing, I can say that practical nurses have no room in the field of Nursing. As a
member of the Philippine Nurse’s Association, Philippine Registered Nurses are well
equipped with right knowledge, skills and attitude that I believed don’t need the help of
the so called practical nurses.

Prepared By:
Jessie A. Herrera, RN

Grace Anne Agustin, RN, MSN

Professor