Headed in the “Write” Direction: Nursing Student Publication and Health Promotion in the Community

Abstract

Effective writing is vital to nursing practice. As educators, we sought to incorporate a meaningful writing assignment as part of a junior-level professional development course. We used innovative methods that support the missions of higher education in general and nursing education in particular while promoting healthful living and establishing the community-as-client. In addition to fostering health education and health promotion, this writing assignment served to enhance students' writing skills and provide them with an opportunity to have their work published. The venue for publication was The Auburn Villager, a weekly local newspaper with a circulation of 6,000 within the local community in East Alabama. The writing assignment was a tremendous success on many levels. Foremost among the positive outcomes was student pride in experiencing publication of their creative work. In addition, students reported a feeling of satisfaction that the assignment had both practical and educational utility.

Using gamification to develop academic writing skills in dental undergraduate students

“…Writing improves the understanding and recall of information and facilitates application of concepts to professional practice . This is why training is included to develop academic writing skills in educational programmes . However, developing these skills seems to be an area of dental education that receives less focus compared to other skills.…”

Evaluating the English language scientific writing skills of Saudi dental students at entry level

“…On the other hand, they are required to submit well-structured written assignments that adequately cover the scientific aspects while using proper writing style (6). Several studies have reported the use of courses and activities to develop scientific writing skills in undergraduate students (4,5,(7)(8)(9)(10).…”

Graduate nursing students’ writing proficiency: Survey of faculty perspectives and academic active inertia

“…Complaints from graduate program faculty nationwide suggest that poor writing skills account for many nursing students struggling and/or failing in courses that require significant writing. [10] The end result translates into limited success in publishing research and evidence-based practice findings, [11] prompting Naber and Wyatt (2014) [12] to recommend that writing needed to be included in all nursing programs. Even the WHO (2016) [13] identified communication as a key nursing competence and, similar to recommendations by Oermann et al (2015) [14] and McQuerry (2017), [15] emphasized the need for dissemination of clinical practice initiatives to the profession and other stakeholders.…”