2025 Nursing Conference Grant Winning Essays

The questions for this year’s application cycle were as follows:

Please describe how you will share what you learn at this conference with colleagues.
How will you incorporate what you learn from this educational offering into your practice?
How will this conference advance your long-term career goals (beyond the attainment of continuing education hour requirements)?

Essays were lightly edited for grammar, flow, and readability.

Mary Jane Genuino

Essay 1: To share the learnings from the AACN conference with my colleagues, I will organize a faculty development workshop to present key insights, focusing on enhancing clinical judgment and fostering empathy in nursing students. I will also integrate these findings into departmental meetings and curriculum discussions, ensuring that new evidence-based strategies are incorporated into our nursing programs. I plan to host a webinar or virtual presentation to extend the impact beyond my institution, sharing my conference takeaways with a broader network of nurse educators. To ensure a lasting influence, I will develop a debrief report summarizing the most relevant insights and distribute it among faculty and leadership. I will also work on piloting The Grace Model based on what I learn, collaborating with colleagues on research initiatives to assess its impact and potentially publish findings.

Essay 2: Attending the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) conference as a presenter is an incredible opportunity to both share and gain knowledge. Presenting my work, The Grace Model, a teaching model designed to enhance clinical judgment while fostering empathy and compassion in nursing students, allows me to engage in meaningful discussions with other educators, researchers, and academic leaders. I will incorporate the learnings from this conference into my practice in several ways: Refining The Grace Model ? By receiving feedback from experts and fellow educators during my presentation, I will enhance The Grace Model with new insights and evidence-based strategies to strengthen its effectiveness in nursing education.

Curriculum Integration: I will apply best practices shared at the conference to further embed empathy-driven clinical judgment training into nursing curricula, ensuring students develop both critical thinking skills and compassionate patient care.

Faculty and Student Development: I will bring back key takeaways from the conference and share them with faculty through workshops and discussions. Additionally, I will implement new teaching techniques to enrich students' learning experiences and better prepare them for real-world patient interactions.

Advancing Research and Collaboration: Presenting my work at this conference opens the door to networking and potential collaborations with educators and researchers who share a passion for improving nursing education. I will use this opportunity to explore further research initiatives and validation studies for The Grace Model.

Mentoring and Leadership: By integrating insights gained from the conference, I will mentor students and fellow educators, emphasizing the importance of both clinical competence and compassionate care in nursing practice. Through my presentation and engagement at AACN, I will not only contribute to the ongoing dialogue on nursing education but also bring back valuable knowledge to enhance my teaching, research, and mentorship, ultimately shaping future nurses who are both skilled and compassionate caregivers.

Essay 3: The AACN conference will support my professional goals by providing a platform to present The Grace Model to a distinguished audience of nursing educators and researchers, allowing me to share my work and receive valuable feedback to further enhance its impact. Engaging with experts in nursing education will expand my professional network, opening doors for collaborations and potential partnerships to implement The Grace Model in diverse academic settings. Attending sessions on the latest trends and evidence-based teaching strategies will help me integrate innovative approaches into nursing curricula that equally emphasize clinical judgment and the development of empathy and compassion. These qualities are essential for preparing nurses who are not only skilled in decision-making but also deeply attuned to the emotional and humanistic aspects of patient care. By applying what I learn from the conference, I will ensure that nursing students receive an education that strengthens both their critical thinking abilities and their ability to connect with patients on a meaningful level.

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