Christy Raymond, PhD (Nursing), RN

About

Degrees

PhD (Nursing), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta (2014)

MEd (Adult and Higher Education), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta (2003)

BScN, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta (1996)

I have been an academic educator for over 2 decades, in various roles and capacities from teaching to administration. I have always been passionate about excellence in nursing education; my research being is rooted in the capacities and contexts of nurse educators and how the intricacies of learning interactions can be understood and maximized for student learning. I am also interested in understanding the important role of health contexts on nurse and patient outcomes. This additional research interest angle has added an integral contextual layer to my education work, forming a full circle approach to the continued development and impact of the nurse through student to expert clinical practitioner and educator. My research and teaching practice illuminate how nurses and nurse educators have the capacity to impact and change the way health, and health education, influence patient outcomes. 

Select Awards

2020 College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta Award of Nursing Excellence in Education

2020 Alberta Nursing Education Administrators (ANEA) Leadership Award for Nursing Education

2013 Alberta Registered Nurses Educational Trust (ARNET) Doctoral Degree Level Funding

2011 Janetta MacPhail Award, University of Alberta

2011 Western Region Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (WRCASN) Graduate Student Research Award

2010 Alberta Registered Nurses Educational Trust (ARNET) Doctoral Scholarship 

2009 Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship, University of Alberta

My previous clinical background includes community care home care nursing where I worked as a home care nurse and triage nurse. I have also worked in pediatric intensive care both in Canada and in the United States as a staff nurse and applied information technology trainer. I have held a variety of administrative roles in nursing education including Clinical Coordinator, Program Chair, Acting Associate Dean, and currently Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs.

Research

My doctoral work revealed how clinical nurse educators role model their critical thinking in the clinical setting with baccalaureate nursing students. This work emphasized the complexity and importance of nurse educators’ abilities to effectively connect with students, contexts and resources in the clinical setting. I have also completed work in the area of high level questioning skills, delivering workshops and testing two interventions developed to increase nurse educators’ use of questioning skills with students in a variety of contexts. My work has also included examining nurse educators’ use of use of standardized anecdotal records on tablets in the clinical setting. My current research work includes exploration of academic nurse educator capabilities and contextual factors in Alberta, exploration of the Professional Responsibility of Concern (PRC) process in Alberta, and a realist review into nurse staffing models. I also have numerous other small nursing education based projects underway.

My growing program of research focuses on nurse educator and nurse capacities, as well as the clinical contexts where they teach and/or practice. My work aims to also understand and promote effective and evidence-based nursing practice and nursing education that emphasizes student engagement; bridging both health systems and nursing education areas of knowledge. The main conceptual pillars within my program of research are critical thinking, leadership, pedagogy, capacity building, knowledge utilization and contextually linked indicators in health system environments. 

Teaching

I have Graduate Program, Teaching and Learning related courses. I have taught various undergraduate program courses, in various curriculums, in my past teaching roles. My main areas of interest in teaching are philosophy, teaching and learning, leadership, research methods and knowledge utilization. 

My Teaching Philosophy: 

I am always trying to help students gain more from their nursing education, inspired by the learning interactions experienced with their fellow students and fueled by my own personal life-long learning journey. I teach to help propel forward nursing knowledge and practice, as well as to help others learn so that that all nurses, from student to educator, may be the change agents, leaders, and prominent nursing ambassadors of the future. I connect students with current, contextually linked, and culturally-relevant concepts that they can question and internalize in order to further understand their own perspectives. I facilitate students’ abilities to make links with knowledge in order to build their comprehensive caring, competent nursing practice in the environments today, and for the contexts of tomorrow. 

I facilitate learning experiences intentionally where I can explore multiple viewpoints. This method aligns with my affiliation to, and research in the area of critical thinking, and is supported by findings on deep learning and thinking. The intertwined nature of teaching and research in my practice underscores the importance of curiosity in nurses’ professional lives. I aim to foster inquisitiveness in students, as well as in other faculty members, through my research in learning and teaching, as well as health systems; my inclusive and affirmative teaching practice; and through my applied reality of life-long learning.