Dedicated Education Unit: Evaluating Innovation in Clinical Education
Principal Investigator: Susan R Moscato, Ed.D., RN
Program Evaluator: Michael Coe, Ph. D., Cedar Lake Research Group
The University of Portland (Oregon), School of Nursing will evaluate the “Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) Model.” The DEU is a hospital teaching unit designed to expand teaching capacity and improve clinical education for nursing students. The DEU reorganizes the roles of staff nurses and academic faculty to increase both the quantity and quality of faculty supervision and clinical education available to students. Practicing nurses receive additional professional development and support to become the primary teachers of students during clinical rotations; academic faculty members provide education and coaching for DEU nurses to increase their clinical teaching skills. The evaluation of the DEU model at four schools of nursing and their acute care hospital partners that operate both DEUs and traditional teaching sites will be conducted by Dr. Michael Coe and his team. Data gathered from student and nurse faculty surveys will be used to compare teaching capacity, faculty work satisfaction and quality of clinical learning environment at DEUs and traditional clinical education sites.
