Professional Experience Placement

This article by Mather and Cummings (2017) explored nurse supervisors’ use of mobile technology for informal learning and continuing professional development both for their own professional practice, and in their role in modelling digital knowledge transfer, by facilitating the learning and teaching of nursing students in the workplace. The theme of  Expanding knowledge was important to nurse or host supervisors. The study found that although supervisors regularly browsed Internet sources for learning and teaching purposes, there was mixed understanding of the mobile learning activities that could be included as informal learning or part of formal continuing professional development. Host supervisors need educational preparation and access to mobile learning opportunities to improve and maintain their digital and ehealth literacy to appropriately model digital professionalism with students in the workplace. Embedding digital and ehealth literacy early within nursing curricula will promote mobile learning as a legitimate nursing function and advance nursing practice. Additionally, provision of learning opportunities at point of care will enable nurse supervisors to harness informal learning for continuing professional development and model life-long learning and digital professionalism to the next generation of nurses. If you have any comments about modelling digital professionalism you are welcome to post them here.  Please join us @PEPCommunity.