Nursing Education: Learn to Do by Doing

In the world of healthcare, success and failure can be a matter of life or death. That said, to be a great nurse, or any healthcare professional for that matter, you must walk in the footsteps of other great nurses, devote yourself to repeated meticulous practice in a real world setting, and apply what you learned in live (and supervised) clinical settings. With this in mind, we developed our “learn to do by doing” approach.

Faculty-Developed Model

Our nursing program faculty developed a model of education that gets away from having students simply memorize facts from textbooks and lectures that will be forgotten once the class is over. Instead, at the center of our framework is the expectation that teachers will deliver information that is relevant, meaningful, and important to the future success of each student. This means utilizing a variety of teaching methods as needed to ensure that our nursing graduates enter the workforce with the needed hard and soft skills.

Experiential Learning

Joyce gives nursing students the ability to develop real, hands-on technical, critical thinking, and leadership skills that they will need to be a great leader in the industry. The use of lab, simulation, and clinical hours are essential for the growth of each future nurse in our program. Additionally, we spend a significant amount of time recruiting the right type of students with the aptitude and temperament to be a nurse. Knowledge can be learned; skills can be taught; the heart cannot.

Learn By Doing Method

If you’re seeking to learn a new skill, here are some tips from the team that knows a thing or two about learning by doing.

Find a mentor

This is an essential component to our education model at Joyce. We assemble outstanding professionals with current clinical knowledge to pass their skills to the next generation.

Fail fast. fix fast.

By definition, students are those who need to learn. Our program gives students a chance to experience failure as well as success. Utilizing our labs and simulators, our students can try new skills in a safe place, where the stakes are low. This way they have the opportunity to apply critical thinking skills without having to fear devastating consequences if they make an error. We learn skills best when we can try them, see the result of our attempts, and continue to practice. If you want to learn a new skill, find a place where you can be brave enough to risk making mistakes.

Set goals

Even quick learners should understand there are no shortcuts to mastering a new skill. Set short, achievable goals that will serve as your guide throughout the process.

Practice

We repeat – practice, Practice, PRACTICE!

Advance

There’s always an opportunity to improve your knowledge and skills. Seek out ways to advance your knowledge and increase your skill set. You’ll grow personally and will become a more valuable asset in the workforce.