Exploring the implicit ethical values in nurse faculty stories: a qualitative descriptive study

Storytelling is a common practice within nursing education. Stories may be important for identity formation, role development, ethics, and social simulation. As a pedagogical strategy, storytelling is thought to improve empathy, communication skills, retention of information, engagement, and cultural competence. Little is known about the stories told by nurse educators and the implicit ethical values within these stories. The aim of this qualitative descriptive study was to contribute to filling this gap in the literature. This study describes story types, rationale for storytelling, perceived response by students, and implicit ethical values within the stories told to pre-licensure nursing students. Participants included 15 nurse educators from the northeastern United States. Participants were primarily white females (80%), and the sample had an average of 14.76 years of experience in nursing education. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using Rubin and Rubin’s responsive interviewing method. Participants were recruited through a post on nursing organization forums, at a nursing education conference, and emailed announcements to regional nursing programs. Data collection continued until no new information emerged and data saturation was reached. Thematic analysis with a process of constant comparison was used. The most prevalent story themes included unexpected situations and errors. The majority of stories were about personal experiences and had either a positive outcome or resulted in a learning experience. Reasons given for telling students stories were described by the following themes: understanding what it means to be a nurse, to improve student learning, we are all human, and the art and science of nursing requires storytelling. Implicit ethical values within these stories included advocacy, nurse attributes, the importance of the nurse-patient relationship, and reflection. This is the first study to examine the implicit ethical values within nurse educator stories and parts of the nursing role that it is hoped students learn from these stories. Findings suggest that storytelling in nursing education is used for facilitating role development and communicating ethical values. Additional research is needed to determine the influence of storytelling on these factors and how storytelling can be used to improve nursing practice.