Cowan-Echols, Lisa

The Healer’s Art Learning History

Faculty Mentor: Bret Lyman, College of Nursing

Introduction

A primary purpose of this study was to discover new insights related to
organizational learning in a college of nursing that may guide nursing faculty and
administrators as they strive to improve outcomes in their own colleges.

Organizational learning is highly context-dependent process through which organizations
progress toward achieving their desired outcomes. For a college of nursing, desired
outcomes may relate to student achievement, faculty productivity, leadership in the
profession, etc. Although organizational learning has been studied in a variety of business
and industrial settings, it has not been studied in colleges of nursing. Understanding
organizational learning in colleges of nursing is important for nursing faculty and
administrators who wish to facilitate learning and achieve better outcomes in their own
colleges. For this study, the learning history method was selected because it is
specifically designed for studying organizational learning and the context in which
learning occurred. Given the unique context of colleges of nursing, this method was
particularly fitting.

Methodology

This learning history was conducted with a private college of nursing in
the western United States. College stakeholders participated in a focus group to identify
college outcomes they felt were notable. These outcomes were used to guide interviews
with faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and students. Relevant artifacts, including
college performance data, were gathered to complement the interview data. Thematic
analysis was used to identify themes. Findings were validated with a subset of
participants and results were presented to the college to facilitate a collective reflection
process.

Results

College stakeholders identified five notable outcomes: 1) Learning the Healer’s
Art, 2) Students prepared for clinical practice, 3) Leadership and influence in the
community and profession, 4) Global health, and 5) Excellent faculty. Data analysis
focused on exploring the context and mechanisms of organizational learning, as it
pertains to achieving these outcomes. In terms of context, the college’s theme, “Learning
the Healer’s Art”, provided a deep purpose and a shared motivation for all activity within
the college. Five themes emerged that offer additional insight into the context and
mechanisms of organizational learning within the college: 1) Character and quality of
faculty and students, 2) Long-term perspective, 3) Collaborative leadership and
adaptation, 4) Mentoring, and 5) Teaching and learning.

Discussion

Fostering organizational learning is an important step toward achieving
desired outcomes in any organization. Contextual factors that are conducive to
organizational learning in a college of nursing include the presence of a unifying vision,
an emphasis on quality and character in faculty and students, a long-term perspective, and
collaborative leadership. Effective mechanisms for facilitating organizational learning
may include mentoring and collaborative adaptation, as well as teaching and learning
activities. Although additional research is needed to test the generalizability of these
findings, they do provide new insight into organizational learning in colleges of nursing
and offer some guidance to nursing faculty and administrators as they strive to improve
their own colleges.

Conclusion

Establishing a context that fosters organizational learning and implementing effective
mechanisms for learning are important steps that colleges of nursing can take toward
achieving their desired outcomes.