Writing in the Discipline
1. In what ways is writing important to your profession?
Writing is essential to communicating as a nurse. Professional nurses write as care givers, advocates, teachers, and researchers. Nurses write to provide high quality safe care to patients and communities, to propose improvements to health care delivery, and to promote changes in health care policy.
2. Which courses are designated as satisfying the WID requirement by your department? Why these courses?
NURS 225: Writing and Research in Nursing is the foundational WID course for the nursing major. In this course, students are introduced to the conventions of writing in nursing, APA formatting, and the role of evidence-based nursing practice. All nursing courses that follow NURS 225 continue to develop students’ writing skills over time.
3. What forms or genres of writing will students learn and practice in your department’s WID courses? Why these genres?
The forms of writing taught in the nursing program are clinical writing (or workplace writing), academic writing and reflective writing. Through various types of clinical writing, including care plans, charting, and discharge summaries, nurses describe and document patient care. Clinical writing may also include promotional materials and policies developed to serve groups and communities. Professional nurses use academic writing to disseminate new knowledge in the discipline and promote evidence-based practice. Reflective writing, such as journaling and informal responses, serve as a way to learn (“writing to learn”) and as a means to self-understanding and professional growth.
4. What kinds of teaching practices will students encounter in your department’s WID courses?
Some of the teaching practices students will encounter will be journaling, low stakes and high stakes writing assignments, peer reviews, scaffolded assignments, and opportunities for revisions and incorporating feedback into later drafts.
5. When they’ve satisfied your department’s WID requirement, what should students know and be able to do with writing?
Upon completion of the nursing program the Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduate will be able to:
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effectively communicate in writing in the various professional nursing roles
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accurately and precisely document professional practice in clinical settings
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prepare thoughtful and effective research papers in the discipline of nursing
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prepare oral and written presentations individually and collaboratively to achieve a specific purpose
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engage in reflective writing for personal professional development
