While I am new to this position, teaching has been a passion of mine for a lifetime. During this lifetime I have taken every opportunity to educate whenever the opportunity is available. Through doing so I have learned quite a bit, developed some great practices, had some successes as well as challenges. The greatest piece of wisdom that seems to be a constant throught my career has been the need and benefit of assessing first. The reason for this is that the goal of education is progress. If you are going in a direction without assessing which way you are headed you could get lost along the way. Not only that but you could actually be counter-productive towards achieving the deducational goals you have set forth. Some of the best practices I have used and found to be effective is to listen in addition to speaking. As educators we may have the expertise that others are trying to learn, but, if we keep our ears open and ready to learn ourselves, we may find it easier to communicate overall. In my personal and professional action plan I always keep learning at the forefront. Whether it be improving on things I already know or gaining new information and insight, growth and personal development are key aspects of any action plan. Professionally as an educator my best successes are always when I see preceptees and students that have taken lessons I have given them and applied them to real life situations. Seeing them grow into leadership positions and having them repeat almost verbatim the lessons I taught them years and years ago. One of my favorite stories was whnI had a student in his Critical Care rotation who was deathly afraid to even touch an IV pump or talk to a family member at bedside. He had some amazing organizational skills, great book knowledge, but fear was a hurdle that was preventing him from getting through this rotation. I taught him one simple trick to help him feel confident about his knowledge and ability and when we talk on occaision we always start the conversation off with some form of that phrase. He said it turned his entire nursing school experience around and now when he is precepting other nurses on the floor it is the first thing he teaches them. While success is great, there are of course many challenges. Whether it be in the form of new information, new policies and procedures, or working with people who have no interest in being part of a team effort. I am a strong believer that every member of a patient care team is valuable and con contribute to the patient's success. My biggest challenge has been when physicians, usually residents, are so dead set on doing things their way that they aren't even willing to discuss possibilites. This does a huge disservice to the patient and over the years I have found ways to get through these challenges.
