Master of Science Capstone Proposal, Outline Example

General Information

1. Project title: The Implementation of a “Sims-man” with Cardiac Monitor as a Faculty Teaching Tool for ADN Nursing Students in the Laboratory
2. Student:
3. Advisor:
4. Second Reader:

Project Description

Due to the recent acquisition of a “Sims-man” with Cardiac Monitor, more advanced laboratory skills assessments can now be incorporated into the current teaching curriculum for ADN students as part of a simulation laboratory. The objectives of this project are to assess the needs for the use of simulated learning, plan a schedule for faculty to be taught the new methodology and introduced to the accompanying curriculum, and incorporate how to include this new simulated learning into the traditional curriculum.

Justification

The need for this project is determined based on a review of the pertinent literature as well as an assessment of the learning styles of current nursing students participating in laboratory skills classes. New types of methodology will help students with various learning styles such as tactile or kinesthetic (as this will be discussed in the literature) and will incorporate this with current EBP medicine theory of the most common and accepted procedures in order to have faculty train nurses in the most efficient and modern way possible.

Special Proficiencies

The skills needed to complete this project will be an understanding of the simulation equipment by the researcher in order to create the assessment tools for testing faculty and planning the faculty instruction as well as curriculum implementation guidelines.

Project Components

These would include a needs assessment to determine how many students are learners with learning styles would benefit from a different style of learning other than didactic or person-to-person; literature review of relevant factors and theory to explain the background of the subject; explanation of the relationship to this method and its use in current culture; overview of related technology and the positive and/or negative effects included; faculty competencies as needed to provide instruction to students; EBPs in order to provide a real world relation between the labs simulated and the students’ actual clinical experiences in the future; and research into future plans for simulation production on other equipment or activities for student nurses.

Plan

Possible components include partnerships between faculty members and support specialists, teaching/learning mechanisms, activities to demonstrate the equipment, resources to help reiterate lessons learned, and additional implementation needs.

Implementation

Tentative implementation would take place over the course of one academic year.

Evaluation

Evaluation would be assessed by faculty feedback after training and course curriculum implementation.

Preliminary Bibliography/Reference Materials

Literature review resources to determine which labs to incorporate and train first.

Project Outline: Tentative outline consists of an assessment being given to all nursing students enrolled in their first year of the ADN program. This groups the students into learning styles. Faculty would then be trained on the simulation equipment during the first semester of the school year and curriculum would be written to accompany all labs taught to faculty. During the second semester, faculty would then train the group of students that were assessed and teach procedures on the simulation equipment as well as with traditional labs. Feedback will be taken upon completion of the second semester from faculty as to how the implementation was regarding its success or failure, things needing adaptation, and/or other issues related to the simulation lab or practices concerning this.

Project Timeline

This is what I need a little assistance with. If you think one year is sufficient for this project implementation (I believe it would work best to start with the incoming class and incorporate the faculty and then the students and then test the faculty after the students move on to their real clinicals because it keeps the focus on one group of students and one group of faculty) I would need to know kind of your academic nursing schedule as far as when the new students start, holiday breaks, that kind of thing. Not a huge issue to deal with this second, but something that will be needed for this proposal eventually.