Nursing school lectures can make watching paint dry seem exciting. That’s right. I said it. The monotone voice of the lecturer, the long stories about way back when, coupled with the already tired, stressed out nursing student can be a recipe for disaster.
The mind of even the best nursing student can wander from what they will have for lunch, to who will pick up the kids, to how they are going to pay their phone or credit card bill. The student picks up their cell phone, responds to a few text messages, flips through the Facebook news feed to see what the rest of the world is doing and when they look up, class is over and they have missed pertinent information. They figure they can just get it from the PowerPoint or read the book. What is the point of lecture anyway? They can learn on their own, right?
I have heard these brutally honest comments from several nursing students. As faculty, we know that students must be present, listening, understanding and retaining information in lectures to do well on exams and ultimately pass the NCLEX.
The Challenge for Nurse Educators
Nurse educators face the challenge of keeping the attention of 40 to 80 students, for 2 hours or more at a time. They must ensure that they are covering key textbook information in a manner that students understand. At the same time, they must provide explanations and examples, rather than just regurgitate facts from the textbook.
The first time I observed a student asleep in class was an eye-opening moment. After waking him up to offer him a pillow, I vowed to never have a student asleep in front of me again.
My antidote to many of the above issues with nursing students includes tons of what I learned in nursing school, graduate and undergraduate. It is also much of what I learned at LA County High School for the Arts and Howard University’s School of Fine Arts.
Like many nurses, I have a second career. It is not a traditional combination, but works for me. As a playwright and theater lover, I find that drama works.
Integrating Drama in the Nursing Classroom
I’ve creating scenarios or “skits” with entertaining characters, based on lecture or skills lab topics, and addressing student learning objectives at the same time. I discovered that students retain more, as they are more likely to stay focused during the entire lecture. Studies have already shown that role-plays and clinical based scenarios increase confidence, as well as clinical and critical thinking skills. (Pavill, 2011).
My repertoire of classroom scenes begins with communication skills. The scene: “I Hate Nursing Students: Tales From the Angry Patient” portrays a patient upset about their illness and being in the hospital. Upon finding out that he has been assigned a nursing student for the day, goes ballistic.
The patient addresses the student nurse as “cubic zirconia of nurses, knock-off nurse” and questions his or her ability to assess vital signs. I love bringing in real actors to play the patient, or grabbing a student who loves being in front of the group. The role of a nurse or student nurse is almost always a student. This allows the student to get a feel for challenges they may face when they get to the bedside.
Ideas for Classroom Dramas
Dramatic scenes are also useful in demonstrating correct and incorrect practice. By starting with incorrect, the students can actually see what they are not to do. The correct version is done immediately after and stays in their minds of the one they should mimic in practice.
Another scene I frequently use is titled “I’ve Fallen & I Can’t Get Up.” This is the tale of Granny, a loveable, funny, inappropriate eighty-year-old patient who is newly diagnosed with Osteoporosis. The role of the clinic nurse practitioner who gives pertinent lecture content is usually played by me. I post a pdf copy of the scene as well as a YouTube clip for students to read, in addition to assigned reading from the text.
Debriefing with participants on how they felt and observations of what happened in the scene from those observing creates a sort of conversational lecture. As the instructor, it is easy to take textbook information and infuse it in as it arises in the debriefing conversation.
There is nothing wrong with a little entertainment in the classroom. Yes, nursing is a serious profession. But we must mix it up in the classroom setting. I have studied television sitcom writing and the formula can be easily translated to the classroom, making learning fun for nursing students.