Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a transformative effect on teaching and facilitating
clinical skills within undergraduate nursing programmes. Traditionally, clinical nursing
skills have been taught face to face in the Department of Nursing and Health Care in
South East Technological University (SETU), however, due to the pandemic, skills
content has had to be taught through a blended format, predominantly on-line. The
curriculum remained unchanged, with clinical skill content to be delivered, and learning
outcomes which were required to be met. There was significant pressure to deliver
skills teaching in an effective way despite the enforced change due to the pandemic
restrictions on face-to-face teaching. Online student engagement was a priority for the
working group as active engagement has been shown to enhance students' motivation
to learn and increase students' satisfaction in achieving their educational goals.
Furthermore, positive student engagement can reduce the sense of isolation and lend
itself to improved students’ performance.
This paper provides an overview of how some of the academic team of a higher institute
of technology, in the Republic of Ireland, creatively met these challenges, through online delivery and a blended learning approach. The module teams utilised the
application of Problem Based Learning (PBL), underpinned with a philosophical
framework based on Critical Social Theory (CST) principles. In order to achieve this,
an acronym was devised, namely RAPID (Recognise, Assessment, Plan, Interventions
and Discuss). The students were supported to develop a Portfolio of Clinical Scenarios,
to enhance their learning which empowered the students to further develop their critical
thinking skills.
Recommendations include a problem based learning and interdisciplinary structured
nursing approach to patient assessment using the acronym RAPID. This enabled
students to develop their problem-solving skills. Therefore, applying it to real world
problem-based patient case scenarios, which can enhance student motivation and
engagement.
clinical skills within undergraduate nursing programmes. Traditionally, clinical nursing
skills have been taught face to face in the Department of Nursing and Health Care in
South East Technological University (SETU), however, due to the pandemic, skills
content has had to be taught through a blended format, predominantly on-line. The
curriculum remained unchanged, with clinical skill content to be delivered, and learning
outcomes which were required to be met. There was significant pressure to deliver
skills teaching in an effective way despite the enforced change due to the pandemic
restrictions on face-to-face teaching. Online student engagement was a priority for the
working group as active engagement has been shown to enhance students' motivation
to learn and increase students' satisfaction in achieving their educational goals.
Furthermore, positive student engagement can reduce the sense of isolation and lend
itself to improved students’ performance.
This paper provides an overview of how some of the academic team of a higher institute
of technology, in the Republic of Ireland, creatively met these challenges, through online delivery and a blended learning approach. The module teams utilised the
application of Problem Based Learning (PBL), underpinned with a philosophical
framework based on Critical Social Theory (CST) principles. In order to achieve this,
an acronym was devised, namely RAPID (Recognise, Assessment, Plan, Interventions
and Discuss). The students were supported to develop a Portfolio of Clinical Scenarios,
to enhance their learning which empowered the students to further develop their critical
thinking skills.
Recommendations include a problem based learning and interdisciplinary structured
nursing approach to patient assessment using the acronym RAPID. This enabled
students to develop their problem-solving skills. Therefore, applying it to real world
problem-based patient case scenarios, which can enhance student motivation and
engagement.
| Original language | English (Ireland) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-24 |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Journal | AISHE-J: The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - 01 Jun 2022 |