Teaching and Learning in Nursing 12 (2017) 223225

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Teaching and Learning in Nursing

jo urna l homepa ge: www.jt ln.o rg

Imogene King's Theory of Goal Attainment and the Millennial Nurse:

An Important Mentoring Tool for Nurse Educators
Laura McQueen a,, Marianne Cockroft a,1, Nida Mullins b,2
a
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
b
School of Nursing, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Keywords: The pioneer millennial generation of students and graduates is entering the profession of nursing. They are
Millennial adeptly equipped with technological savvy, unabashed condence, and self-directed goal achievement.
Pioneers Imogene King's nursing theory of goal achievement and attainment provides a framework to guide and men-
Mentoring tor the upcoming graduate nurse into practice. The future of nursing demands that nurse educators have the
Goal attainment ability to support millennials and their goal attainment through different learning modalities and that they
have the willingness to endorse and mentor students as the new pioneers in the practice of nursing.
2017 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
In the last years, nurse educators have been introduced to and
provided information on strategic teaching methodologies for mil-
lennial students in nursing programs in the United States
(Johanson, 2012). The majority of this information is emerging from
their predecessors, the baby boomer nurse educators, who are work-
ing to understand and guide this next generation of nurses. Although
it is important to have some basic knowledge of the characteristics
and understanding of the millennial students to improve nursing ed-
ucation and practice, the future warrants the nurse educators' ability
to support the ideology of goal attainment and different learning mo-
dalities and have a willingness to endorse and mentor the new pio-
neers in the practice of nursing. It is hopeful that the condent and
self-assured millennial generation will further pioneer nursing into
a heard and valued profession in health care delivery.
Theoretical Application
Imogene King's model of goal attainment, while developed as a
conceptual framework in 1960s, is still a viable concept for nurse ed-
ucators (King, 1981). King's theory, developed in 1981, is an
important tool for nurse educators to use to mentor the millennial
generation, dened as individuals born 19802001 (Edge et al.,
2011; Mangold, 2007; Pardue & Morgan, 2008). This theory posits
that individuals are goal seeking within the framework of three
interacting systems that include individual or personal systems,
group or interpersonal systems, and society or social systems. The
concepts for the personal system are perception, self, growth and de-
velopment, body image, space, and time. The concepts for the inter-
personal are interaction, communication, transaction, role, and
stress. The concepts for the social system are organizational, author-
ity, power, status, and decision-making (King, 1981).
King's theory of goal achievement can be applicable and useful to
millennial students and educators as it relates to the importance of
communication, transaction, self, stress, growth and development,
personal space, and time in both their work and personal lives.
There are many personal and professional characteristics that are
associated with the millennial generation, but the frontrunners to
consider when planning curricular and methodological changes in
higher education are the millennial student's technological savvy,
condence in what they have to offer, and their goal directness. It is
feasible that nurse educators can work within the framework of
King's goal achievement to guide and strengthen these future col-
leagues and pioneers into practice.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 336 339 6245.

Background
E-mail addresses: llmcquee@email.unc.edu (L. McQueen), Cockroft@email.unc.edu
(M. Cockroft), ndmullin@uncg.edu (N. Mullins).
1
Tel.: +1 919 966 53 221. It could be said that baby boomer nurse educators, many of whom
2
Tel.: +1 336 687 0041. are parents of millennials, have readily and maybe even unwittingly

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2017.03.003
1557-3087/ 2017 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
224 L. McQueen et al. / Teaching and Learning in Nursing 12 (2017) 223225
shaped this next generation of nurses. After all, these boomers are the
70's women activists who strove to provide for their families while
advancing their careers. Their goals centered on opening doors for
women through hard work and education with the dream that they
would ultimately receive recognition and fair compensation for
their efforts. Most professional women of this generation mastered
the new computer technology for advancement in their jobs, opti-
mistically worked hard for recognition, and developed problem-solv-
ing skills to help them manage their work and home life. Their goals
included achieving personal growth and success.
It may come as a surprise to baby boomer parents, but the millen-
nial children were listening and watching. This generation followed
the pathway that was socially embedded into their consciousness by
family members, friends, teachers, and their self-appointed career ex-
pectations. They are technological savvy and condent in what they
have to offer because they were told they should be self-assured,
and they were told that they must work hard to make excellent grades
in order to be accepted at their desired colleges and universities. They
are also lled with aspirations for advanced educational degrees to
better enable them to achieve their goals. The ultimate reward for
this generation includes having advanced technology available, a job
that gives them nancial security and stability, and personal time off
to enjoy various social activities that frequently includes their baby
boomer parents. King's theory on goal attainment can be seen in the
aspirations and reward ideology of millennial students many of
whom will be our future registered nurses (Mitchell, 2012).
Discussion
Technology has been cited as the greatest contributor to changes
in nursing health care and the most recognizable difference in pro-
ciency between baby boomers in practice and the current generation
of students (LeRouge, Van Slyke, Seale, & Wright, 2014). Millennial
students are both skilled and talented in various new and changing
technologies. They are exible learners and master technological ad-
vances quickly. They are comfortable with applying these skills and
are willing to share and demonstrate their use of technology.
Most millennial students have spent countless hours using tech-
nological devices in the car, on athletic elds, preparing for standard-
ized testing, delivering technological presentations for teachers, and
engaging with family and friends. All are engaged in multitasking
using these devices inside their homes and work settings and outside
during physical and social activities. In the future, the current mobile
device will be revised in shape, size, and wearability, but will most
likely remain the constant companion of this generation and a stan-
dard devise used in nursing care delivery.
The readily available mobile phone device has had a tremendous
impact on the lives of millennial nursing students and is the most
widely used type of technology available (Keengwe, Schnellert, &
Jonas, 2014). Currently, the student laptop can be found in proximity
to the mobile phone, but for instant communication and connection,
the mobile device is a constant companion and source of information.
The drive to master technology, deal with stressors in education
and achievement and competition, and work toward goals and career
aspirations has developed a new generation of college students.
Many are stimulated overachievers who are trying to assure their
place in an unknown future (Johanson, 2012). Although not seasoned
in a craft or having extensive work experience, the new pioneers of
the future have a high level of condence in themselves to remain
on their trajectory to achieve their desired goals.
IThplications for the Future
Nurse educators will have to embrace technological changes to con-
tinually update their skills to use communication and other technological
devices to engage and mentor students. In our everyday lives, we can
now check on our status of a loved one, schedule a meeting, arrange
transportation, get directions, look up medical information, learn about
safety measures, and much more in real time on a technological device.
Millennial students, once shown or given time to navigate, have a greater
acceptance and mastery of this technology (Pardue & Morgan, 2008).
Although baby boomer educators appreciate these conveniences,
many are ambivalent about using the devices in the work setting in
deference to taking time for direct nursing care of patients. Many ed-
ucators may have their own personal struggles to learn where to nd
or enter information in the changing landscape of computer technol-
ogy in healthcare settings. In contrast, the millennial generation ap-
preciates the value of the immediate availability of information
from their mobile devices because it allows them to complete tasks
quickly and efciently for patient care needs.
The electronic health care record systems that have been adopted
by hospitals and health care delivery systems have greatly impacted
the education sites in nursing. For example, clinical nurse educators
have become keenly aware of the hours that their students are re-
quired to attend for computer training at health care institutions.
The students may have to attend computer training classes at differ-
ent hospitals and other health care institutions learning site-specic
electronic documentation systems. In response to the changing tech-
nology and millennial prociency, the students can now attend re-
mote site computer training. The students are learning at their own
pace and attention rather than attending a 4 to 8-hour computer
training class session (Gallo, 2011). Another example of how baby
boomer educators and millennial student may differ with the time-
consuming and fast-paced computer training sessions can be seen
when the educators begin to look overwhelmed and blurred; howev-
er, students may appear to be bored and distracted and are multitask-
ing with other technological devices.
When it comes to new technology, the baby boomer nurse educa-
tors may nd the students ahead of their own learning curve with a
computer program or device. When this situation occurs, there is an
opportunity to build a cooperative, reective, and shared learning ex-
perience (Bonaduce & Quigley, 2011). King's theory identies that
the nurse and patient (student) relationship includes communicating
information, setting goals together, and then taking appropriate ac-
tion to achieve those goals (King, 1981).
Because it is likely that mobile devices will most likely remain the
preferred method of communication for the millennial practitioner,
this could provide many opportunities to have shared learning expe-
riences between the students and educator. For example, nurse edu-
cators and practitioners in the clinical setting will have to learn how
to integrate the use of mobile devices into practice as a positive meth-
odology for nding information on medications, diseases, treatments,
and as a communication device for the effective delivery of patient
care. The new pioneers to nursing will need to share their knowledge
of the device to help implement effective use of technology.
Phillips identies that there are signicant differences in educational
experiences between baby boomers and millennial students (Phillips,
2016). The millennial students have a condence and self-assurance
in their technological and academic achievement, and they expect to
be heard and acknowledged for what they know and can offer. Today's
baby boomer faculty may not have had the same condence and self-
assurance when they were college students because they did not expect
their educators to listen to their ideas and value their input.
Another difference in educational experience is the millennial's
expectations for immediate instructor feedback on tests, written as-
signments, and skills assessment. Millennials expect grades to appear
on-line quickly and get impatient when feedback is not delivered in
what they perceive as timely manner (Edge et al., 2011; Stephens &
Gunther, 2016). Baby boomers had to wait patiently to receive feed-
back from educators, often days or weeks.
 L. McQueen et al. / Teaching and Learning in Nursing 12 (2017) 223225
Another example of the impact of new technology is the use of
clickers, a personal response technology commonly used in the class-
room to teach a variety of nursing content (Hunter Revell & McCurry,
2013). This device illustrates a quick response ideology that is consis-
tent with millennial expectation for immediate response and feedback.
Finally, current educators can also expect this generation of stu-
dents to have experienced a safer and expressive learning environment
in which they have been able to express themselves freely without
negative consequences. This translates into I expect to be acknowl-
edged. These students may have experienced more equal opportuni-
ties regardless of racial, religious, or other differences, and they may
expect and presume fairness throughout the educational experience
and a voice in discussions that will affect their goal attainment. It is im-
portant to acknowledge that these students have not experienced a
workplace environment that operates in a fundamentally different
value system (Andrews, 2013; Smith, Malone, Agwu, & Clark, 2009).
King's theory of goal attainment through the personal, interper-
sonal, and social system can be useful to educators in understanding
the needs of millennial students in classroom and clinical settings.
The expressive learning style and engagement in learning and tech-
nology are key to millennial success and goal attainment. The litera-
ture also supports the mentoring of students in smaller interpersonal
groups in both classroom and clinical settings where there is an op-
portunity for active listening and discussion that will assist graduates
to pioneer nursing practice (Burruss, Billings, Brownrigg, Skiba, &
Connors, 2009; Montenery et al., 2013).
SuThThary
Nurse educators have an important role in educating and
mentoring the millennial nursing student so that these students can
develop the technical skills and knowledge and life skills necessary
to lead the practice into the future. Educators can achieve this, in
part, by providing opportunities for these students to participate in
the discourse. Teachers do not necessarily have to be positioned as
the power at the head of the table; they can purposely mentor by
physically sitting in the middle of the classroom or through other col-
laborative learning techniques (McWilliam, 2008; Trueman & Miles,
2011). This encourages teamwork and leadership, and it provides
students opportunities to lead and manage as goal achievers and
nursing pioneers (Wilson & Gerber, 2008).
Today's nurse educators will need to continually reassess their peda-
gogic practices in nursing education and incorporate new technologies
and methods as appropriate. They will need to nd ways to help millen-
nials achieve mastery of topics and skills so that they can go into practice
with condence and self-assurance. Educators will also need to assist stu-
dents to achieve nursing skills and their personal and professional goals.
Conclusions
Entering into the profession are the new pioneers of nursing prac-
tice. They are equipped with technological savvy, unabashed con-
dence, and self-directed goal achievement. Imogene King's goal
attainment theory demonstrates a framework to guide and mentor
225
the upcoming graduate nurse to practice. Nurse educators must be
included in the discussion that connects the goal achievement ideol-
ogy to the student's successful integration of condence, safe client
care, and furthering the role of the nurse in health care delivery.
The novice millennials are on the precipice of the new frontier of
nursing practice. They will need their educators to embrace change
in order to effectively prepare, mentor, and advocate for them as
the next generation of pioneering nurses.
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