Building gifted nursing students proficiency levels through talent program participation

BACKGROUND: The talent program at the Department of Nursing in Aarhus, VIA University College provides academically gifted and highly motivated nursing students the opportunity to independently work with various aspect of nursing. Thereby enabling the students to enhance and strengthen their qualifications. Participation in the program requires extracurricular activities alongside the standard curriculum for nursing education in Denmark; offering enrolled students the opportunity to gain an additional 15 ECTS-points (equal 270 hours).
AIM: To offer challenges to gifted and highly motivated nursing students as a strategy to retain students in the nursing educational program by building their proficiency levels.
METHODS: The talent program consists of mandatory academic activities; journal club, course in project management, and extended course in systematic literature search. Each student is enrolled in one of the three following programs:
• Clinical Nursing.
• Social Inequality in Health.
• Nursing Research and Development.
RESULTS: These results are examples of the students work in different talent programs:
• A student enrolled in the Nursing Research and Development program is contributing to a validation study at the geriatric research unit. Responsibilities include data collection at the emergency department, assisting with data analysis, and co-authoring a submitted research article.
• A student in the same program is involved in a Delphi method study aimed at developing quality indicators in nursing for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. The student leads the preliminary literature review phase of the study.
• A student enrolled in the Social Inequality in Health program is initiating a project focused on understanding the experiences of loneliness among young boys through a comprehensive systematic literature review.
CONCLUSION: Working with associate professors and clinical researchers enabled the students to gain a higher level of proficiency through professional networking and obtaining in-depth understanding of opportunities within nursing. Through voluntary work, students frequently reported heightened motivation and enhanced professional capabilities stemming from their involvement in partnerships with researchers. This hands-on experience not only enriches their academic journey but also fosters practical skills and insights that contribute to their overall growth as aspiring nurses.