The level of nursing expertise informs the educator’s
teaching strategies. Nurses who practice at the novice
and advanced beginner levels rely heavily on policy and
procedure, have difficulty with ill-defined problems,
and have little experience with a variety of clinical situations
on which to base decisions. The educator must
create highly structured learning activities for nurses at
these early levels of professional development. Although
feedback is important at any level of expertise, it is
essential at this level. Feedback should be specific and
used as an opportunity to point out meaningful information
the nurse may have missed or not even considered
important. It is not uncommon for newer nurses to
dwell on assessment findings that have little relevance.
The educator can identify any irrelevant findings.
A simple exercise to assist the less-experienced nurse
in discriminating between important and irrelevant
information involves having the nurse describe the key
features of a particular condition. The nurse can consult
a textbook if necessary. Compare and contrast