Pearson/ANTS Nursing Educator of the Year Award
Recognising Excellence in Teaching Nursing
Pearson Australia in conjunction with ANTS established the Pearson/ANTS Nursing Educator of the Year Award. The aim of the award is to encourage and recognise innovative teaching practices in Nursing Education. The award was first presented in 2009.
Pearson Australia has announced that the Pearson/ANTS Nursing Educator of the Year Award will be offered again in 2010. The award consists of a cheque for $3,000 and a plaque and will be presented at a convenient nursing event, local to the winner, in December 2010.
Nominations will be accepted from registered nurses, whose primary activity is teaching nursing students. The Pearson/ANTS Nursing Educator of the Year Award is judged by a panel assembled by ANTS. More information is available at the Pearson Australia Website
http://www.pearson.com.au/CommunityAndAwards/ANTS/Home.aspx
2009 Award Winner
Pearson Australia is pleased to announce that the winner of the
Pearson/ANTS Nursing Educator of the Year Award is Dr Kerry Reid-Searl. Kerry wins the prize of $3000.00 and a plaque. Dr Reid-Searl is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health at CQUniversity.
As a teacher in the undergraduate nursing program at CQUniversity for the past 18 years Dr Kerry Reid Searl has earned a reputation as someone who has been able to make a difference to a student learning journey. Kerry has gained several teaching awards including the Vice Chancellor's award for Teacher of the Year in 2007, A Science Engineering and Health Faculty Teaching Award in 2007, an ALTC Citation for her outstanding contribution to student learning and in 2008 she was named CQUniversity 'Teacher of the Year' (unijobs.com) as voted by students. These awards confirm Kerry's ability to reach, teach and inspire students through her innovative teaching strategies.
Without doubt Kerry's most significant claim for innovation and excellence in teaching for the 2008-2009 period has been her unique work with high fidelity patient latex simulation. In 2008 Kerry pioneered this strategy into the undergraduate nursing programme at CQUniversity. HFPLS involves Kerry applying commercially prepared masks and hands on herself as the educator. The latex enables Kerry's face to be masked and in turn a patient emerges with a personality and history adopted. The patient then becomes real and experiences health related issues relevant to the concepts that Kerry is intending to teach. Behind the mask, Kerry has been able to react to a given situation, prompt learners to consider different aspects of the care/ skill and create a situation where learners can interact with the patient. The patient (and Kerry behind the mask) can communicate high expectations about the care/ skill to be delivered and then give immediate feedback to the student about the care/ skills they provided. Furthermore the student had the opportunity to practice the requisite skills and techniques in a realistic, safe and non threatening environment.
Using this strategy Kerry has created two infamous characters, Dudley Dawes and Cyril Smith.
Click on the picture to see Cyril in detail.
Her work in this area is growing with international and national conference presentations. Kerry has been working with other universities using this medium and has more recently been awarded two research grants to investigate this strategy further. Her other area of significant contribution is around medication safety and undergraduate nursing students. Her work has led to numerous international publications and conference presentations. Additionally Kerry has also been a part of an authoring team for several nursing text books which are now being utilized Nationally and Internationally.
