Empowering Nursing Students at the Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de Léogane (FSIL) to Promote Evidence-Based Practice in Haiti

Purpose: Nursing research is considered one of the most important courses in nursing curricula to prepare baccalaureate-nursing students for evidence-based practice.  The purpose of this project was to evaluate how Haitian nursing students at the Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de Léogane (FSIL) circumvented their traditional subject-focused approach of learning to a process-driven method using problem-based learning (PBL) to stimulate their cognitive skills in the nursing research course.

Methods: To accomplish this goal, innovative teaching strategies: concept mapping, technology support, clinical case scenario, reflection, and group presentations were implemented in the course to help students develop the analytical skills necessary in critical thinking and evidence-based nursing skills, problem solving and self-evaluation skills, co-operation and teamwork, and interpersonal communication. These learning activities were fundamental for helping the students identify gaps in their knowledge to retrieve, access, and exercise information to critique and analyze the process of nursing research. 

Results: The students at the Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de Léogane (FSIL) reported that PBL instructional teaching model promoted a higher order of thinking, improved group collaboration, and provided them with a better understanding of nursing research process, thus making the course more relevant to real life health care situations in Haiti.  By implementing this innovative teaching model, the students were able to acquire critical thinking skills and direct their own learning.  Problem-based learning was the teaching pedagogy that supports students' active participation in research.

Conclusion: PBL is an appropriate pedagogical framework for empowering the students at FSIL to take charge of their own learning.  Nurse educators can make the learning experience stimulating, appealing, realistic, and applicable to the health care practices in Haiti by using this model.  By guiding the students’ lifelong learning, nurse educators can empower FSIL students to become the voices that will transform the health care delivery system in Haiti.