Using your syllabus to manage student expectations

If you want to be an effective university teacher and have a manageable teaching (and email) workload throughout the semester, then you must establish clear expectations for your students. In this post I’m going to discuss how to use your syllabus to establish clear expectations for your students and proactively address student concerns and issues as much as possible. Let’s get started!

The Syllabus

As you know, your course syllabus should provide all of the information that your students need to know about your course and what they need to learn and do to be successful in your course. It also is a tool for setting/managing expectations and establishing boundaries. It is important to be up front with students about things such as: when you are available/unavailable, your email response time, consequences of late assignments, requests for extensions, how to submit assignments, and so forth.

Your institution and/or faculty/department likely has a standard syllabus template that you are asked/required to use or can adapt. Although it is tempting to keep recycling and updating old versions of syllabi, always check to make sure that the information is up to date and that all the hyperlinks still work.

What I include in my syllabi:

Course information:
- Course name, number, and calendar description
- Course objectives
- Class schedule
Professor information:
- Professor/Instructor name and contact information
- Office hours and availability
- Email policy
- FAQ discussion board
Required learning resources (typically books or software programs)
Technology requirements (especially for online classes)
Assignment information:
- List of summative assignments/tests/exams, due dates, and their % grade for the course
- List of formative assignments/tests and due dates
- Detailed assignment instructions (may choose to make this a separate document)
- Assignment grading rubrics (as applicable; may choose to make this a separate document as well)
- Assignment submission instructions
- Information about late assignments and/or missed tests/exams
- Information about requesting extensions
Information about unversity student resources including learning accommodations, student services, health and counseling services, etc.
Information about plagiarism
Information about the appeal process
Grading scheme for the course
Easter egg for students who read the syllabus

Many of these sections are fairly standard but the ones that I find really make a big difference for students and for me are: Professor information and Assignment information.

Professor Information:

In terms of office hours, I only do these by appointment and try to keep it to business hours M-F. However, some of my master’s students are nurses working shifts so I make sure they know that I am willing to be flexible for them. You may want to block off certain days/times for student meetings. I find that student questions/meeting requests happen when there is a test or assignment coming up or after they get an assignment or test back so I don’t really find it helpful to block off consistent time every week.

I have a lot of rules for students about sending me emails. In terms of my email response time, I tend to be really on top of my inbox and generally respond in less than 24h. However, my official policy is within 48h to give me a buffer and set a reasonable expectation for students. I also ask that students type the name of the course in the subject line and if it is a legit emergency to indicate that it is urgent. When I give back assignments, I ask that students read over all of my feedback and reflect on their assignment AND that they wait at least 24h before they email me to request a time to meet with me about it. I am more than willing to discuss assignments with students but I find that they are in a better frame of mind when they have time to reflect on their work and the feedback I have provided. Recently I have held optional live sessions online for students to ask any questions that they have about an upcoming assignment or test. Often more than one student has the same question so it is an effective way of helping the whole class at once.

Another tool that I have used within my learning management system (LMS) where the course is housed (we use D2L Brightspace) is to create an FAQ Discussion Board where students can ask questions that they have about the course or assignments. I also encourage students to look in the syllabus and the assignment instructions and grading rubrics to see if they can find the answer to their question before reaching out to me. Nine times out of ten, the information they are looking for has already been provided. This prevents me from getting a lot of repetitive questions via email.

Sometimes a student will email me about something that I hadn’t thought of and that the whole class would benefit from. In these cases, I usually email the entire class or post a news item/announcement in D2L to share the information with everyone.

Assignment Information:

I try my best to provide students with very detailed assignment instructions and marking rubrics (when applicable). I encourage students to mark their due dates in their calendar/planner, start working on their assignments early in the term, and sometimes include smaller low stakes assignments along the way to get them started. When possible I also include example assignments (in the course site, not actually in the syllabus) from previous students (with permission) so that they understand what I am asking them to do. Obviously this isn’t possible for every type of assigment or for tests but it helps clarify expectations tremendously. For tests, I also find it helpful to have a marking key with justification for correct and incorrect answers. Yes, it is time consuming to make this but it is super helpful to have on hand when explaining to students where they went wrong or misunderstood a question/answer. It also helps me check that I didn’t write a wonky question and when I am lucky enough to have TAs, it helps them understand how to mark.

Providing students with information up front about what happens if they submit assignments late (or never) or miss a test or need an extension is also really important. With the current pandemic, many of my students have had additional challenges (many of them are nurses working on the front lines or in management positions and have kids at homes, etc.) so I have tried my best to be supportive and flexible with due dates this year. I usually give students 48 hours of extension time that they can use any time during the term as long as they let me know a few days before the due date. This information is included in the syllabus. Generally, few students use this but it helps reduce their stress because they know they have that buffer if they need it.

The last thing that you may want to include in your syllabus is an easter egg that students will find if they actually read your syllabus. If it is a smaller class and you don’t mind getting a bunch of emails you could ask them to email you a picture of an animal or a car (or whatever). Another approach (which I prefer) is to set up a short survey using Microsoft or Google Forms (depending on what your school uses). Insert the link into your syllabus near the end with brief instructions to the student to click on it.

Example text:

Let me know that you read the syllabus by completing this brief survey: click here.

Sometimes the hyperlinks can be really long so you can shorten the text to display by clicking on the second letter in, typing what you want it to say, and then deleting the first letter and the remaining letters after what you typed. This looks better and also can make the easter egg less obvious to students who aren’t actually reading the syllabus.

So there you have it!

Is there anything I missed?

I would love to hear what you include in your syllabi. Comment on this post if you have something to share.

Annual planning as an academic

As an academic, I think it’s important to understand the ebb and flow of your academic year in order to plan ahead and be strategic with how you invest your time and energy at different times of the year.

Hallelujah! 2020 is almost over forever. I’m sure I’m not the only one who felt like this year was 15 years long. I am done with it and ready to move on. Who’s with me?!

While January 1^st is not my first choice for the “start of the year”, it is an opportunity for a fresh start and a time when many of us reflect on the past year and think about what we want to accomplish in the year ahead.

In this post, I’m going to talk about the different “years” that we deal with in academia (and as a parent if that is applicable to you) and how you can use that information to strategically plan your year.

As an academic, I think it’s important to understand the ebb and flow of your academic year in order to plan ahead and be strategic with how you invest your time and energy.

There are multiple “years” that you need to be aware of: 1) the calendar year, 2) the employment year, 3) the academic year, and 4) your children’s academic year (if applicable).

1. The calendar year. January 1^st to December 31^st. This is the most obvious year but other than taxes, vacation time, and the normal calendar, it is not actually the schedule that we really live by in academia. That being said, the calendar year can sometimes be used to your advantage (or not) when it comes to publications, conference presentations, and research grants.

2. The (university) academic year. This is another year that we are very familiar with since we have spent most of our adult lives at the university in some capacity. In Canada the academic year runs from September of one calendar year until August of the following one. It is divided into Fall Term (Sept-Dec), Winter Term (Jan-Apr), and Summer Term (which includes multiple course timeframes between May-Aug). For me, the academic year is all about teaching responsibilities, graduate student progress, and administrative deadlines. Normally professors are required to teach during 2/3 of these semesters/terms, with one term to focus more on research. That looks great on paper but in real life, most research happens over the full year, not just over 4 months. However, knowing your teaching responsiblities does allow you to prioritize the most time-consuming aspects of your research when you have less/no teaching.

3. The employment year. Typically, this year is from July 1^st of one year to June 30^th of the following year. This is the “year” that counts towards probation, tenure, promotion, and years of service. Often you will be required to provide an updated CV or progress report by June 30^th every year to show what you have done in the last year. This year is also used to determine when you are eligible for sabbatical leave and your possible retirement dates.

The employment year is a bit awkward because it includes parts of two academic years: a) Academic Year 1: Tail end of summer term (July/August), and b) Academic Year 2: Fall term, Winter term, and first half of summer term (May/June). However, I still think it is the best year to use for planning as an academic.

If you are on the tenure track or pursuing promotion to full professor, you should absolutely print out a copy of your employment contract and write down the key dates related to submission of your applications for probationary review, tenure, and promotion. I also encourage you to go buy a sturdy 2-3′ binder and start creating your portfolio of evidence of meeting the criteria for tenure as you go. It is so much easier to do this as you go than waiting until the last minute!

4. Your kids’ academic year. If you have school-age children like I do, then you also deal with their academic calendar in your planning. In Canada, the school year runs from after labour day in September until the end of June. This year aligns almost perfectly with your employment year, minus the summer (July/August). Remember how the summer semester was supposed to have “extra” time for research? About that…

Seriously though, if you have kids, you need to find something for them to do when you are working in the summer and also plan for some family vacation time. If you are going to have students working for you in the summer you also need to consider how you are going to deal with that. Are you going to make them take vacation at the same time you do? Are there things that they can work on independently? Or maybe you have a post-doctoral fellow or senior graduate student who can step up and provide some leadership while you are on vacation?

Putting all these years together we get the following:

Note that I used the employment year as the base year for this because in my opinion it is the most important one as an academic employee. From this perspective, we are actually halfway through our “year” rather than at the beginning of it.

Planning Strategically for the next 6 months:

Make a list of the things that you must do in the next 6 months.
Is there anything that you can delegate, defer, or make easier? If yes, take action to make those things happen.
Schedule your remaining must dos into your calendar.
Make a list of the things that you want to do in the next 6 months.
Rank the items on your want list.
Schedule your want list by priority.

Example:

My MUST DO list for January-June 2021 looks like this:
1. Teach graduate course on healthy public policy & determinants of health (online, synchronous)
2. Teach undergraduate course on professional practice (online, asynchronous)
3. Oversee development of specialty nursing professional development certificate
4. Transition to Associate Dean role
5. Move to Moncton for new role (sell house, find new place to live, etc.)
6. Graduate student supervision (currently 4 students)
7. Co-lead of 1 major research project
8. Co-investigator on another major research project
9. Sign up kiddo for summer day camps
Is there anything that you can delegate, defer, or make easier? Not really lol…
Schedule your remaining must dos into your calendar. Many of my must do commitments have weekly times allocated to them. For teaching, I also make sure that I put all of the assignment and test dates into my calendar and block off time for marking and meeting with students afterwards. Selling my house and moving is going to take up a lot of time and energy so I am going to wait until I am done teaching in April before I start looking for a realtor and putting the gears into motion for that. I have the advantage of having a lot of experience moving which will help but it is still a lot of work! Day camp sign ups are usually in May/June so I will put a reminder in my calendar for that.
My WANT to do list for January-June 2021 looks like this:
1. Finish and submit 2 journal articles that I have been working on
2. Have a big BBQ party to say goodbye to our Fredericton friends (depending on COVID19)
3. Compete in a powerlifting competition
4. Lose 20lb
5. Plan a fun camping trip vacation
RANKED LIST:
1. Plan a fun camping trip vacation
2. Lose 20lb
3. Finish and submit 2 journal articles that I have been working on
4. Compete in a powerlifting competition
5. Have a big BBQ party to say goodbye to our Fredericton friends (depending on COVID19).
Schedule your want list by priority.
1. Planning for the camping trip vacation will actually have to happen later on once I have sold my house and have specific dates for moving. I am confident it will happen but even though it is #1 on the want list, it will have to wait.
2. Losing 20# is an important goal for me this year. I have been sitting so much the past year and feel unhealthy. To work towards this goal I have scheduled in time for walking the dog twice a day and working out in my home gym. I also schdeuled in time for weekly meal planning, grocery pickup, and meal prep.
3. These 2 articles are so close to being done! I blocked off time in the next 3 weeks to work on each of them and polish them up.
4. I haven’t competed in powerlifting for 6 years (yikes) but it is something that I really like doing and would be fun to do with my powerlifting friends. The one I want to do is in early April on PEI which has been super strict with COVID19 restrictions. I’m still on the fence about this one because it is during a busy part of the semester and there is still a lot of uncertainty about COVID19. I also just realized that it is on Easter weekend so I think that specific competition is going to be a no for me this year. The next 6 months is going to be busy so while I will still work on my strength and fitness, I think the wise choice is to look at competing next year instead.
5. BBQ party TBD…will have to wait and see!

I hope this process helps you with your planning for the next 6 months 🙂

Happy planning!

Nursing workforce planning when everyone has a nursing shortage…

For quite some time academics have been predicting a severe nursing shortage in Canada and around the world. This was delayed because of the economic crisis of 2008 which caused many nurses to delay retirement and keep working. Unfortunately, our population has continued to get sicker and older and efforts to address the predicted shortage have fallen short. As a result we are now in the midst of the exact circumstances we were warned about: We don’t have enough registered nurses and those we do have are often working short-staffed and overtime. In some places it’s even become a challenge to schedule vacations because there just isn’t anyone to cover.

So how to solve the problem?

Option 1: Train more nurses. Considerations: nurses need full-time jobs when they graduate and governments and universities need to invest in nursing education (including hiring more educators for more students).

Option 2: Recruit nurses from other places. Considerations: Taking nurses away from places that also have a nursing shortage is unethical, not all nursing education is equal, and the process to get registered and licensed in Canada can take a couple years. In addition, bringing over foreign nurses to work below their scope of practice as personal care workers until they complete the process (if they can) is completely unethical.

Option 3: Let all nurses work to their full scope of practice (optimize use of health human resources). Considerations: In Northern and remote areas of Canada RNs are able to work to their full scope but in many hospitals and other health care organizations they work below their scope. For example, nurses have the expertise to assess wounds and make decisions about dressing changes but in some hospitals they need an order from a physician to make any changes. We are seeing LPNs (and RPNs in Ontario) starting to work more up to their full scope of practice which is great but all nurses should work to their full scope of practice. Appropriate staff mix is also essential (example: the ratio of RNs and LPNs should be different on different units).

Option 4: Health promotion and prevention (invest in public health and address social determinants of health). Heaven forbid we actually slow the flow of patients that need nursing care in the first place…but addressing the root causes of illness and disease would go a long way to decreasing use of the health care system in the long term.

On Legacy and Goodbyes

I have many thoughts about my first year at UNB and as a nursing professor. Not unexpectedly, it has been a year of intense change, growth, and learning, but also of deep personal loss. In October 2016, just months after starting my career as an Assistant Professor, I said goodbye to my PhD supervisor the night before I walked across the stage in my beautiful purple robes to be hooded as Dr. Read and get my diploma. After leaving the hospital I broke down in tears and sobbed. I still don’t know how to deal with this loss. The juxtaposition of experiencing one of the happiest and saddest events in my life at the same time was (and is still at times) overwhelming.

This experience has definitely influenced my perspective on my work as I begin my career. Heather was a nursing graduate of UNB where, serendipitously, I now work. She influenced nursing research, practice, and policy nationally and internationally through her work on structural empowerment and healthy work environments, but arguably her biggest, broadest impact has been through her influence on her students and colleagues. Working with her was a one-of-a-kind experience and I feel so blessed to have had the time with her that I did. Being a supportive supervisor and mentor for graduate students has become a really important priority for me because I know it matters, deeply.

In retrospect, I think I was in denial about the fact that she wouldn’t always be around. As her illness progressed, she worked from home more frequently and we (her research staff) would run down to the dental circle to exchange documents and edited drafts with her when she pulled up in her car. It became the new normal and for better or worse she was able to keep working. The best days were when she would come sit in the RA office with us, pull up a chair, and chat about research and life (and Roger Federer of course!). Despite her busy schedule and everything else, Heather was extremely generous with her time and energy. Her high expectations and drive weren’t always easy to handle but she pulled out the best in me for sure and always said thank you for the work that I did for her.

God, this is so hard to write about. What are you supposed to do when your supervisor dies and leaves you her laptop, a book chapter to write, an unfinished research study…? When you help clean out her office and see what’s left behind? The awards, degrees, books, and articles…. the artifacts of hours upon hours of work and intellectual capital. When you witness her son saying goodbye to her and think about your own mortality and having to say goodbye to your own son down the road? I’m not sure what the answer is but I see things a bit differently now.

Not that I was ever interested in doing things just because they look good on my CV, but I really do think about my work differently now. Not to be morbid, but I am acutely aware that the impact of my own research and teaching is important and will live on after me. Much of Heather’s ideas and knowledge have been passed on to her students and I am honoured to be part of that group of people.

My perspective on how I use my time has also changed and I cherish the time I have with my friends and family in this life even more, though admittedly I don’t spend nearly as much time with them as I would like. I don’t want to sacrifice relationships for my career and I have realized that I don’t have to. In fact, I am more convinced than ever that the relationships we have through our work are (or can be) an important part of our life.

Thanks for listening.

Unsolicited Advice for Writing a Research Article for a Journal

Writing research articles for peer-reviewed journals requires practice, patience, and persistence. I am by no means a prolific scholar but I worked with one who was amazing (the late Dr. Heather K. Spence Laschinger) for six years and learned a thing or two about writing journal articles (and my record isn’t too shabby for an early career scholar either). I am also an award-winning peer-reviewer for several journals so I have seen a lot of excellent and not-so-excellent submissions which has made me a better scholar too.

One of the things I really love about this role is being able to provide helpful feedback to others that can help strengthen their work. Chances are I will never be your peer-reviewer (unless you are a nursing or management scholar) but I wanted to share some tips on how to present your best work and improve your chances of publishing your research. From a reviewer perspective I think this guidance is important too because we are volunteering our time to review papers (yes, that’s right, we do it for free, mostly because we care and are mega-dorks) and trying to review a poorly written and/or disorganized manuscript is frustrating.

So, without further ado, here’s my unsolicited advice for writing a research article.

Select the journal first

But, how do I choose a journal?

First, read the aims and scope of the journal to make sure it is a good fit for your research. For example, if you did a study on job burnout, you might not want to submit it to the Journal of Applied Physiology. Burnout Research would be a better fit for your work. Journal-research fit, if you will, is super important because the editor wants to make sure that the articles are of interest to their readers. You will not make it past the editor’s desk if your article isn’t a good fit for the journal so save everyone some time and do your homework before you submit (and even better, before you begin writing).

Ideally you should select 2-3 journals that are a good fit for your research and then compare them. Look at their impact factors and take a look at a couple of recent articles from each to get a feel for the kinds of studies they publish. Also look at the word length and author guidelines because sometimes that can be more important than impact factor if you need more space. I recommend always going for the best journal first and then keeping the others in mind in case your work gets rejected from the first choice.

Read the author guidelines and follow them EXACTLY.

Don’t waste your time writing a 10,000 word paper with 10 tables and figures for a journal that wants 5,000 words and a max of 4 tables and figures. Author guidelines are not suggestions – they are rules! Your job as an author is to make it as easy as possible for the editor to give your paper the green light to move on to the peer-reviewers. You also want to make it easy for the reviewers to focus on the content of your paper, not the writing, grammar, and formatting, etc. It is also worth repeating that the journal already gave you the guidelines! It’s not rocket science, it’s attention to detail (and it’s important!).

Use a reference management software program.

While it is tempting to just use the copy and paste feature from Google Scholar, in the long run, it will save you a ton of time to save and organize your articles systematically. I use Mendeley (it’s free) so I will speak directly about that program. Mendeley has many cool features that make life easier for researchers and students.

You can upload PDFs using drag and drop and the program will populate all of the reference fields automatically (always check for accuracy though because they are often imperfect).
The program then allows you to highlight and make notes directly on PDFs of your articles so you don’t have to print them out.
It has a cite and write feature for Microsoft Word that allows you to insert citations from your reference library while you write.
It generates a reference list for you in the style of your choice. This will save you about a million years if your paper ends up getting rejected and you need to submit to another journal that uses a different referencing style (trust me, it is painful to switch styles manually if you haven’t experienced this).
You are likely to reuse some of your references in the future for grants or papers so a reference management program keeps you organized (and again, saves you time looking up the same article 20 times).
Your Mendeley library is saved on a cloud so you can access it on any computer. I love this feature because I can access my libarary at home and work and on my laptop so I never have to worry about where my files are.

Write the literature review/ theory section first.

Although not everyone emphasizes theory in their work I think it is really important. I am really not impressed by empirically-driven papers that dump a bunch of variables into a statistics program and tell me that they are significantly related to one another statistically. I want to know if those relationships are meaningful. In other words, why and how are things related and what are the implications? This is where theory and logic come in. Let’s pause here and think about an example: both ice cream sales and drownings increase significantly in the summer. Logically, we know that drownings do not cause increased ice cream sales or vice versa, but rather, both are related to an increase in temperature (when it gets hot people are more likely to want to eat ice cream and to cool off in the water). Another example: Mud and rain are positively correlated but we know that rain causes mud, not the other way around! In both examples, the data could support relationships that are not logical, demonstrating the need for theory-driven research. Don’t start with your data; start with why! (“Start with Why” is also the title of an excellent book by Simon Sinek, FYI). If you are doing a qualitative study then theory is equally important in terms of identifying and explaining the paradigm and method that you are using. Helter skelter coding of interviews or focus groups doesn’t quite cut it.

Write the methods and results sections next.

These should be the easiest parts of your paper to write. In the methods section you simply explain what you did in your study and in the results you describe the findings. Writing these sections makes your paper feel like a “real” article and gives you the content you need for your discussion section and conclusions.

Your methods section should outline your study design, sampling procedures, data collection methods, intervention and control groups (if applicable), and data analysis methods. For quantitative studies, providing accurate information about your measures is really important. Describe each one and provide support for their validity and reliability.

A quick note about tables and figures here – make sure they are formatted the way the journal wants them and that they are easy to read and understand. I suggest using the full names of variables rather than abbreviations (e.g., “job satisfaction” is easier to understand at a glance than “jstotal” or whatever code name you came up with in SPSS or SAS). Never ever copy and paste output from statistics programs! Just don’t. As a reviewer it makes me cringe when people do this. You can easily copy it into a word document and reformat it to meet the journal guidelines. When you don’t it looks like you either didn’t read the journal guidelines or you didn’t care. For bonus points, if you have space to include a diagram that shows your model of how variables are thought to be related in your study, it is super helpful to reviewers and readers (and arguably to yourself).

Tackling the discussion.

The structure of this section is going to depend on your research and the journal guidelines but generally, it is a good idea to have an introductory paragraph that sums up the overall findings and then subheadings to discuss different key findings in further detail (keep it logical and organized). You should interpret the meaning and implications of your results and discuss how they fit with past research. This is one of the toughest sections to write because it requires the synthesis and integration of ideas from multiple sources. You should not just paraphrase or summarize what was found in other studies; you are explaining, linking, comparing, and analyzing your results and those of other studies. You are pulling out the meaningfulness of your study.

Limitations.

Despite common limitations for studies with similar designs, most journals still require that you provide a limitations section. For example, obvious and common limitations include sample size and power, response rate, cross-sectional designs, common method bias, sampling bias, and social desirability bias. Pick two or three of these to address (not all of them!). If there is something particular that you think limits the validity or reliability of your results or their generalizability beyond your study, it is important to include it in this section and explain the potential implications or cautionary interpretation needed. As much as possible, keep this section short and sweet.

Introduction section.

You are almost there! Again, make sure you follow the instructions for authors for the journal because some of them are very particular about what to include in each section. Often the introduction includes a statement about the purpose and/or aim of the study and is the place where you need to introduce the reason why your study was needed. The introduction is an excellent place to use some key statistics that highlight the severity or reach of the problem at hand and grab the reader’s attention. At the end of the introduction it should be obvious what the problem is and how your research is going to address that problem.

Writing the abstract.

Think of your abstract as the profile picture of your article. People will decide whether or not to read your paper based just on this short blurb. Whether we approve of it or not, sometimes people only read the abstract because they don’t have access to the full article or they are pressed for time. Abstracts are also used in the systematic review process and for conference presentations so learning to write excellent abstracts is a valuable skill. The biggest challenge is fitting everything you want to say into 150-300 words (just look at the length of this blog post lol!). Not easy and again, every journal has different guidelines. Some want a descriptive paragraph but most have subheadings (e.g., Introduction, Purpose, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, keywords). Generally you have room for 1-2 sentences for each section so you have to be concise and edit a lot! The best advice I have for this process is to start from scratch instead of cutting and pasting sentences from your paper (always too long and too detailed) and to write only one essential sentence for each section. Then you can add as needed and as room permits.

Consistency.

The last point I want to make is that it is essential that your entire paper is consistent from start to finish. If you are examining the effectiveness of a weight loss intervention on cardiovascular risk factors in overweight men, then the whole entire paper should focus on that. There shouldn’t be new surprise variables like vitamin D consumption or social support introduced in the middle of the paper! Likewise, your discussion and implications should be logical and realistic. One study never proves anything 100%. Recall that with hypothesis-testing research a significant result just means that you are 95% sure (or 99% sure, depending on your p-value) that your results didn’t happen by chance. You are contributing to a body of evidence and an ongoing research conversation. To improve consistency, after your first draft is written take a break and read it from start to finish with fresh eyes. Read it critically and ask yourself if there is anything that doesn’t make sense or flow quite right. Talk about your variables in a logical order and keep the same order throughout your paper and in tables and figures. This creates less work for the reader and makes it easier to follow. Once you are done editing, get someone else to edit it. If you are working in a team and different sections were written by different people, it is especially valuable to have one person edit the whole document and make it flow (everyone has a unique style!). If English is not your first language and you are submitting to an English-language journal definitely try to get it proof-edited by a professional for grammar and spelling before you submit.

Hope you found this helpful and if you are a nurse, please check out my new feature Nursing Research Summaries. I think you’ll find that helpful too!

Happy writing!

On Being an Academic Nurse

When I began my PhD I felt the need to be cautious about telling people that I was doing it. Luckily I worked with super supportive colleagues and they never made me feel like I was weird or not a “real” nurse because of my interest in research. In fact, many of them were more than willing to share their experience, wisdom, and insights with me when we worked together. I may not have 20 years of nursing experience but I am a hard worker and a caring nurse who is willing to help others and pull my share. I absolutely loved my time working in geriatric rehab as a staff nurse. There were times when I considered quitting the PhD and staying on there instead. I didn’t leave direct care nursing because I didn’t like it. I didn’t leave because I’m afraid of hard work. Or shift work. Or working holidays.

I’m not quite sure what people think academic nurses do but I honestly cannot remember the last time I took an entire 24 hours off from work. I think it was in May? In addition to teaching, research, and service requirements of most faculty, nursing faculty at many schools (mine included) also teach clinical nursing courses. This term I’m teaching second year students in the hospital which means not only 2-3 full shifts in the hospital every week but tons and tons of prep, organizing, evaluation, and follow-up with students. This is not like a lab where they are practicing on mannequins; they are working with real-life patients who are sick. They are interacting with nurses and physicians. Expectations and anxiety are high. I feel like a mother hen trying to protect them while at the same time give them learning opportunities and reasonable autonomy. Teaching clinical is rewarding in many ways but it is one of the most stressful things I have ever done.

I am also a course assistant for the nursing research course and need to prepare to teach a new-to-me course next semester. On top of this I have also been trying to establish my program of research, attend the meetings I need to go to, and get to a stack of article revisions and new submissions. I took a day trip to Ottawa for a conference between clinical days and it was awesome but also exhausting. Somehow I have managed to still spend quality time with my son, work out at least 3 times/week (although Thursday’s “workout” mostly involved staring blankly at the barbell trying to convince myself that it was workout time), and always have some (mostly) healthy food and clean laundry. It’s the small wins, right?

This is not the life I envisioned 11 months ago when I accepted this job. After working and going to school for a million years I thought it would finally be different. I thought I’d have time to have a life but the reality is that I am working constantly. I thought I’d love being closer to home but it’s not really close enough that I can see my family and friends very often. It’s not super helpful when I want to go do something either (“Hey, dad, can you drive 5 hours and babysit while I go to a movie?”).

It’s not all bad of course; I really love a lot of things about my job. I’m just not sure that I want my life to be my job. I realize that the transition to new job in a new province and a new city is a huge adjustment and that it will get easier as time goes on. My first term has been full of many wonderful things and a couple of not-so-awesome things. Highlights include the joy of seeing nursing students grow and learn, interacting with patients and their families and the staff on the unit, and being part of some inspiring research projects. The best thing of all has been looking at the stars with my son on those early mornings before clinical. In the quiet darkness before sunrise we get to share the awe and peace of the night sky together before the busyness of the day begins. These are the moments I cherish most.

Perplexed by the NCLEX in Canada

nclex2

To most Canadian nursing educators, the NCLEX is about as welcome in Canada as Donald Trump. I am not alone in being royally PO’d that the provincial nursing regulatory bodies decided to nix the Canadian Registered Nurses’ Exam (commonly known as the CRNE)to replace it with the NCLEX in 2015.

In case you’re not in nursing or you aren’t Canadian, the NCLEX is the American nursing licensing exam that all American nurses must pass after their nursing degree before they can register as a Registered Nurse. It is an adaptive computerized test that will keep asking tailored questions until the program is 95% sure that the candidate is above or below the passing standard. To be clear, I think that this format and system of testing is awesome. What isn’t awesome is having to teach my students content that is American so that they can pass the test (as if we don’t already have enough content!). The French translation of the NCLEX is also so bad that many Francophone students are failing because they can’t understand the questions (I’m talking outside of Quebec of course because they wisely decided to keep their own nursing exam). Moreover, although French NCLEX practice materials are starting to pop up (after they realized that it was an issue), there aren’t nearly as many resources for French students and educators as for their English-speaking counterparts. Two giant strikes for the NCLEX.

I have no idea why on earth the provincial nursing regulatory bodies made this decision or if they understood the implications of their decision. Initially I was told that it would be a Canadian version of the NCLEX and maybe they thought so too. It is not. It is the exact same database of questions for all candidates in all countries. I could be wrong but I think the rationale behind this is that the NCLEX supposedly is “context-free”. I attended an NCLEX workshop for nursing faculty two years ago and the facilitator explained to us how the test worked and how the questions are designed. She also proudly stated that “the NCLEX has no context”. What she meant was that the questions are designed to be applicable to all contexts. I would question that. Is nursing really that black and white? Maybe some things are but I’d argue that real life requires professional judgement calls too.

There are also huge differences between the US and Canada in terms of how we view health care (as a service to be bought through insurance versus as a basic human right). Specific examples of the “Americaness” of the exam include “the five rights of delegation” and the scope of practice for an RN versus and LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse)[or RPN (Registered Practical Nurse) in Ontario]. In Ontario where I started my nursing career, I worked on a hospital unit with half RNs and half RPNs. We both had our own patient assignments and although the RNs were able to be in charge and dealt with the more complex patients, we were never assigned an RPN to delegate work to and have them report back to us. They had autonomy and we all worked together as a team (for the most part). In the US, LPNs report directly to RNs and the RN assigns patients or patient care duties to them. LPNs are not allowed to engage in patient teaching or any of the nursing process (assessment, planning, evaluation, nursing judgment). (See the Joint Statement of the American Nurses Association and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing here). Why does this even matter? Well, now we have to teach our nursing students about delegation in their own province and the rest of Canada (it is not exactly the same from province to province) AND America. If we don’t tell them that delegation rules for the NCLEX they are going to answer those questions incorrectly and it sure as heck isn’t because we don’t teach them about delegation in Canada.

Some have argued that it is not an American test, to which I respond, then why are Canadian-specific NCLEX prep books popping up? Is it because we are just another market that companies want to exploit, or is it because there is American content that Canadian students need to learn in order to do well on the test?

So where does this put us? Precisely in a giant head-lock. We have excellent nursing programs across Canada and in general our nurses have more education and better quality education than nurses in the US. Many of their students still take 2-year associate degrees whereas in Canada all RNs have to have a four-year bachelor’s degree. Every day I am impressed with the quality of the education that the students get at UNB and especially with the amount of real life clinical they get (over 1400 hours). However, now we need to add in NCLEX-specific content to make sure that our students are prepared to take an American nursing test. Not to prepare them for their practice as an RN – we do that exceptionally well already!

Clearly I have strong feelings about the NCLEX and not everyone will agree with me but I don’t think that Canadian nursing students should have to learn American content in order to become nurses in Canada. I also don’t think that nursing schools should be judged by their NCLEX pass rates. Passing the NCLEX or not doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of a nursing program, but, rather the “NCLEX test readiness” of graduates. Some schools are starting to make it a requirement for nursing students to write the HESI NCLEX practice test and obtain a certain score before they can graduate and write the NCLEX. This ensures that pass rates on the actual NCLEX are high because it increases candidates’ test-taking skills and ensures that they don’t write until they are ready (sometimes after writing the HESI numerous times). As a result, high NCLEX pass rates are not necessarily a reflection of the quality of the nursing school, but of the readiness of the student to write the NCLEX. I don’t think that it is a bad thing to take the HESI per se, but I do think it is misleading to compare first-time NCLEX pass rates between schools who have a HESI score requirement and those who do not. Taking these tests (the HESI and the NCLEX), attending NCLEX review sessions, and purchasing NCLEX study guides are also very expensive so making the decision to require the HESI is not one to take lightly.

So there you have it. The NCLEX has made it harder to become a nurse in Canada and more challenging to be a Canadian nursing educator. Arguably, it has also made it easier for Canadian nurses to practice in the US (if you don’t mind working in a f0r-profit health care system). I’m not a fan and I think that it was strange decision. It is also possible that I am not privy to confidential information about why this decision was made and, thus, do not fully understand the rationale behind it. That being said, until the situation changes, it really doesn’t matter if I agree or not, no matter how logical my arguments are; the fact is that we need to do what we can to prepare our students for an American test.

Working Out is Non-negotiable

We hear it all the time now that work-life balance is a struggle for pretty much everyone. My new job is awesome but I am also starting to realize that there is absolutely just not enough time to do everything that I want to do…at least not all at once.

I am excited for everything ahead but also trying to pace myself! This fall I am teaching a clinical course in chronic care for the second year nursing students which involves 2-3 8-hour shifts every week plus individual student meetings, feedback, prep, and evaluation. I’m also helping with the third-year nursing research course (no sweat). I am also submitting a couple of grant applications, working on ongoing studies, and getting acquainted with fellow researchers at UNB who have shared interests. Of course, this is all awesome and I don’t think I could have asked for a better person-job fit!

I am also mindful of taking care of myself and making sure that I get enough sleep and prioritize my workouts. For me that means getting up at 5am to workout in the basement and going to bed by 9 or 10pm at the latest. Although I’ve decided not to compete in powerlifting until next Spring or Summer when my workload calms down, working out is non-negotiable for my physical and mental health.

I may not be breaking any records lately or “show-ready” for a fitness competition but lifting is an awesome stress-reliever and it’s one of the few things that I do just for me. I aim to get in 4 days/week (shoulders; bench; squat; and deadlift focused days) and have also been working more on my mobility because sitting at a desk most of the time isn’t exactly good for that. I also bought a treadmill which has made a world of difference since I can’t exactly leave my 3-year old at home to go for a run (one-arm stroller running is hateful and I refuse to do it).

It is difficult to make fitness a priority when you have other things going on, when you’re tired all the time, and your budget is tight (groceries in NB are crazy expensive!), I of all people totally get it. However, if you don’t take care of yourself first, you can be limited in your ability to be there for those you love and be effective at work. These are the things I think about at 5am when I don’t want to get out of bed…and then I get up and get ‘er done (most of the time).

The Defense

On Monday morning I had my PhD Defense and it was completely wonderful!

For weeks beforehand I prepared diligently, trying to anticipate difficult questions my examiners might ask. I made an exam binder with my whole dissertation in it, Mplus output, copies of my survey booklet, key references, detailed notes that I made as I re-read my work, etc. What can I say, I like to be prepared.

IMG_20160521_085203 (1) — My super organized exam binder 🙂

I finally chopped my presentation down to 30 minutes on Friday. I rehearsed it twice on Saturday, one last time on Sunday night (after an epic game of water gun capture the flag with my son). I went to bed on time and slept like a rock.

On Monday morning I was just the right amount of nervous and excited. My game plan was to enjoy the day; the day of my once-in-a-lifetime PhD defense. The hard work had already been done – the hours of endless reading and thinking, writing and rewriting…rewriting again…the data collection and many hours of data analysis….it was all done! I was as ready as I could be.

The public presentation went well. I felt comfortable and confident and enjoyed sharing my work with everyone who came. About five minutes in, the computer shut down for updates but it broke the ice a bit and helped me relax. It also helped that the audience was full of friendly faces 🙂 After the presentation was over there were a few questions and some discussion.

Then I went to the exam room with the examiners for the “grilling session”. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when the first examiner opened with praise and compliments about my study, writing, and attention to conceptualizing social capital at different levels of analysis, etc. The whole exam is rather a blur but at that point, I knew I was going to be fine. Of course they asked me some challenging questions but overall it was an enjoyable discussion. I am also very hard on myself so it was really nice to hear such positive feedback about my work.

The defense made me realize that everything my committee had done to guide me and challenge me over the past few years had resulted in a solid dissertation study. More importantly, I have developed the knowledge and skills required to be an independent researcher and hold my own as I move on to my new role as an Assistant Professor.

I passed and had minor revisions to complete but the most difficult part was finalizing my acknowledgements section. How do you adequately say thank you to every single amazing person who’s been part of your journey? The whole reason I became interested in workplace social capital (the topic of my dissertation) in the first place was because I found myself surrounded by caring, supportive colleagues, friends, and family as a single parent working on my PhD. Initially I wanted to look at something completely different – the link between leadership and the work environment and nurses’ physiological health outcomes (something I may do in the future).

My biggest lesson over the last few years, both first-hand, and through my research, is that social capital is tremendously valuable. Not confined to the workplace, I know I could not have accomplished all that I have without the awesome people in my life. More importantly, social relationships make life meaningful and way more fun! I am ever thankful for the special people who have been part of my life adventure thus far. Now that my PhD is complete, it feels like 10 million billion elephants are off my back and I am super excited for the new adventures ahead!

Academic Conferences and Children

I’m excited and slightly overwhelmed by all of the planning currently going on in my life. I have been invited to present at two awesome conferences this summer and am preparing to move to a new city to start my first tenure-track job. Very exciting, but also extremely stressful because I am in charge of organizing everything and I am also getting ready to defend my dissertation at the end of the month (also amazing but stressful).

Regarding conference planning, the biggest stressor for me is figuring out the best plan for my child while I’m away. Sometimes it makes sense to bring him along but that requires an additional responsible adult to come with me so that I can actually present and attend some of the conference. It’s obviously more expensive to do that but it can also be more fun in the end, even if it requires more coordination to plan.

When it doesn’t make sense for him to come, I have the glorious fun time of organizing child care for him. I am fortunate to have lots of social support – in London. Now that I am moving to a new city it’s going to be a little trickier to navigate all this. I am closer to family but they are busy with their own lives and I feel guilty asking for help. I feel ALL the mom guilt – guilt for spending time alone/with other grown-ups. Guilt for having a career that is important to me. Guilt for not making my child the centre of my universe at all times. Guilt for not having a significant other. Guilt for not enjoying my time away as much as I could because I feel guilty about all these other things. Enough with the guilt already, right!

For better or worse, research dissemination and staying current is part of my job. It’s not like you finish your PhD and that’s the end of learning and scholarly work. I feel very fortunate that travel is part of my job but it’s not like it’s an all-expenses paid free-for-all! Unless you are a well-funded researcher (which is the exception rather than the rule), there is little funding to assist with the expenses of conferences. It also takes a tremendous amount of time and energy to prepare an abstract and a good presentation, a fact that often goes unacknowledged.

Sure, you could go to one conference a year but that might be a career-limiting move because fewer people will see your work. It also limits your exposure to interesting research across disciplines which may provide valuable insights and generate new ideas. I value the professional memberships that I have in nursing and management and conferences are an important part of these organizations. Increasingly, there are more and more conferences to go to as well! For example, APA puts on an excellent Work and Stress conference where every presentation is something I am interested in. Obviously you can’t go to everything, but it is not easy to choose or to say no.

So I’m left asking myself the question: “what’s a sane number of conferences to attend each year?”

Not sure that I have an answer yet but I will figure it out 🙂