Master Instructor Engages with Nursing Students to Spark Learning

Having trouble remembering the “Six Rights of Medication Administration”? Or maybe you can’t quite grasp the concept of dyspnea. Perhaps the chain of infection has you stumped.

Master Instructor Emily Namesny teaches students to think of lessons in terms of something they’re more familiar with. For the chain of infection? Relate it to how Chamberlain Care® spreads rapidly on campus.

This approach to teaching — relating complicated concepts to familiar ones — is part of the Master Instruction pedagogy, a method and practice of teaching developed by Chamberlain’s Faculty Center of Excellence. The goal of Master Instruction is fostering deep student learning, where concepts are retained and can be applied to real-life situations, long after an exam or the course is over.

While Emily’s valuable approach has become her own, she discovered its foundation at Chamberlain.

After receiving a bachelor’s in psychology and working as everything from a make-up artist to a life insurance agent, Emily discovered her passion for medicine on September 11, 2001. The date is no coincidence — she wanted to be there with the first responders saving lives.

Emily earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing, and finally began teaching full-time at Chamberlain in 2014. Faculty and staff provided constant support for Emily, and she felt the impact of a community of care firsthand.

It didn’t stop there. Emily was thrilled to learn that Chamberlain offered training and support to become a Master Instructor, a designation the college provides once instructors have received Chamberlain-specific training courses and classroom observations by peers. As she embarked on her journey as a Master Instructor, the college trained her to involve students in the learning process through simulations, stories and big concepts rather than just facts. This method of active learning enhances critical thinking and engagement, developing extraordinary nurses.

Once Emily found her groove, there was no stopping her. She stays up-to-date not only on nursing research but also current events — that’s how she was able to use the mannequin challenge to teach the Six Rights of Medication Administration or hallway sprints to explain dyspnea.

Her creative approach reinforces lessons so that they’re more than memorized, they’re learned. And Emily’s constantly coming up with new ideas and strategies because she genuinely cares about her students’ success.

“I think they can sense that I genuinely respect them, care about them, and genuinely want what’s best for them,” she said. “When you find your match in life, it becomes effortless. The passion just happens. The positive things just happen. The teaching angle on nursing has brought something out that the students can sense. They tell me, ‘We don’t want to disappoint you. You try so hard for us.’”

Emily also keeps things lively by telling stories from her 6+ years of experience as a practicing nurse. She says these real-life tales are crucial in making lessons memorable long past the test.

And her students? They try hard, stay engaged, care for one another, and care for Emily. In fact, when she was going through chemotherapy, her entire class dressed in pink to show support. Chamberlain Care is spread once more!

Still confused about the Chain of Infection? Chamberlain College of Nursing is the reservoir. The “Care” lives in the heart and the portal of exit is the vocal tract. Kind words are spoken (the mode of transmission — airborne), and the portal of entry is the auditory tract, as the kind words are received. Emily is the susceptible host who now embodies Chamberlain Care. That cycle is then repeated with Emily as the reservoir and her students as the susceptible hosts. Soon, everyone in the family is a host of Chamberlain Care.  

By Chamberlain University