Systems thinking is a core competency in nursing education. The assessment of knowledge, awareness and value of, and self-efficacy for teaching systems thinking among faculty is an important step to plan faculty development process.
A 17-item faculty questionnaire was developed to assess the knowledge, awareness and value of, and self-efficacy for teaching systems thinking to nursing students as a part of a pilot study. The questionnaire was administered to the nursing faculty at a nursing school in the Midwest region (response rate: 19.49%; 20/92).
All participants had partial knowledge and awareness of systems thinking. Most of them valued systems thinking and considered it an important inclusion in the nursing course. Although educators were ready for this, they were only moderately comfortable in teaching systems thinking at the time of the survey.
Faculty training on systems thinking is proposed, and specific techniques are suggested. Conducting a faculty assessment survey is an important step in tailoring the faculty development process.