Nursing Students for Nursing Students: Creative Teaching for One's Peers

Purpose: In traditional classrooms, many students remain passive, unmotivated and uninvolved.  Such highly structured environments do not facilitate the learning that often accompanies experiential learning situations where students work and learn from one another. The focus of experiential learning is placed on the process rather than the outcome.  Games can be used for learning and not simply as entertainment.  Learning from games can develop skills, improve understanding and increase retention of material in a relatively risk free environment.   Games and simulations are used to instruct in several areas: higher order thinking, complex decisions, practical skills, team building and developing expertise. Studies have shown that in nursing education, students who used educational games had better learning outcomes, were more engaged, and had more fun than students taught with traditional methods.

Methods:

A two-semester course was developed for nursing students (n=30) enrolled in a BA program.    This blended course (i.e., part face-to-face and part on-line) was used to promote individual competences in creativity connected to nursing practice.  All assignments used project-based learning. After learning about the theory and practice of creativity in health care, students produced an online course on a specific topic.  Additionally, student groups developed a new and creative game to teach peer students about something relevant to their work with patients, with staff or within the organization.

Results:

There were many outstanding and innovative examples of creative games designed by students groups.   

* One group of nursing students created a game encouraging other students to provide patient education using "Ready-made" art.

* One group of nursing students created a game to teach patient assessment and diagnosis in the ER.  This game used the format of the British TV show "Cash Cab". The students called their game – "Cash Ambulance".

* A third group of nursing students taught about the importance of using humor in nursing care by creating a game based on the famous Snakes and Ladders game.

Conclusion:

In this type of course, nursing students benefit in three ways:  (1) they have more fun and enjoy learning about creativity; (2) they have the opportunity to use these creativity skills; and (3) they gain competence by assessing the implementation of their projects.