Using deconstruction to educate Generation Y nursing students

Nurse educators are obligated to use creative strategies to educate a post-modern generation of students who possess distinct characteristics, particularly related to teaching and learning. The complexity of today's health care system, related to changing sociological factors and the differences in this generation, gives reason to tap into the strengths of this generation and consider how a postmodern perspective can influence nursing and nursing education. Derrida, to whom deconstruction is attributed, approached postmodern philosophy as a form of textual criticism. Deconstruction denotes a particular practice of reading, criticism, and analytical inquiry, factors that are important to nursing education. This article describes how deconstruction can be used to enhance nursing education of Generation Y students, and its application to reading comprehension and writing skills is explored.