First time teaching MedSurg Nsg

christvs, DNP, RN, NP · Jul 8, 2005

I wanted to thank everyone that has responded so far, I really appreciate it. Well, I have come to the conclusion that I am going to try the interactive approach to start out, and if it isn't well received I'll change things. I think having the students answer questions, and be involved in class will help them grasp the material better than hearing me drone on for the whole 4 hours a week... I mean they'll have to hear me lecture, but I want to keep the students involved and keep them thinking.
When asking students to answer questions during reviews, would it be too "elementary school" to give rewards? Or would that make it sort of fun? I think the material is soooooo serious and complicated that a little fun to lighten things up might not be a bad idea, plus it may encourage them to participate rather than the students just look at me and no one say anything.
What do you think?
Hi, I think rewards are a really good idea. You're right-it will definitely encourage otherwise quiet students to speak up if they know they will be getting something good. What type of reward did you have in mind? One`of my profs used to put stickers on our nursing case studies if we scored an A on them-we all got a kick out of it! :)
-Christine

NsgTeacher · Jul 8, 2005

For reward I was thinking of chocolate of course!! :chuckle

I had considered some extra credit system for right answers, but I thought keeping track of points may be too time consuming.

RNSuzq1, RN · Jul 8, 2005

NsgTeacher, I have to agree with most of the other Posters - Interactive Lectures are the best. We have several Instructors and they take turns lecturing - usually in whatever their Nursing Specialty is. We love them all, but the ones that have been teaching the longest are the ones we are always thrilled to have lecture to us. I guess because they know the material so well and are so comfortable "teaching" - they're able to include the entire class and can make it extremely interesting.

What has really helped us all out is when they will include a little scenario about a patient they had with whatever disease they are lecturing on and tell us what she did for that patient, how it turned out, etc. For example - we are now going through complicated OB, the Instructor lecturing has been an OB Nurse for years and all the stories about OB patients she's discussed with us has not only been very interesting, but it takes it out of the textbook and puts a real live persons experience in it's place. When she talks about her experiences, it always leads to class discussions (someone in class will have gone through a similiar experience or talk about a family member or friend that did, etc.).

They have never made us feel like we have to just sit there for 4 hours taking notes without ever asking questions - the floor is always open for questions, discussions, debates, etc. and because of that, I've learned so much more than if I just had someone read out of a book to me all day. Hope this helps - just include your class in the lecture and you'll be fine. Wishing you so much luck in your new job - we need Great Teachers. Sue

chattypattyCRNA2B · Jul 8, 2005

I agree - group work is a tool of the devil. :angryfire

:rotfl: That was too funny!

MIA-RN1, RN · Jul 8, 2005

I will be teaching Med Surg nursing for the first time this fall. I don't have any formal education experience, but have plenty of nursing experience (as RN and NP). It is very important to me that the students learn the material, and that I am an effective teacher. I have asked other faculty if students like to be involved in class, and most say 'not really', they prefer lecture because they are most comfortable with that.
I am curious if you all could tell me what style of teaching fits you best? I am very excited about teaching and have a many good ideas, but if most nursing students don't like to be interactive, then I may just stick to lecturing. Please tell me your thoughts! What makes a good teacher in your eyes? Thanks in advance! :)

There is a lot of humor in our lectures and conferences and that is really important.

We have lectures and then we have conferences which are groups of students with an instructor and I have to say, the interactive conferences are way better than the lectures.

Ditto what everyone else said about the professor reading verbatim. BORING. That happened several times during our med-surg semester and it was pretty pointless for us to even have sat thru it.

One thing tho, some of the games are really stupid. Like matching the GI procedure/illness to the description on big velcro boards, or jeapardy-like games. They were kind of infantile.

We have a fun game, where we all have remote-control type zappers. The question appears on the screen with four answer choices and we click on the number of the right answer. Then the correct answer is displayed after everyone has clicked in and it shows how many people answered which question. I like that one.

Sharing stories from your time on the floor is a big hit too. It makes the material way more relevant.

Are you teaching clinicals too?

NsgTeacher · Jul 8, 2005

Yes, I'll be teaching clinicals 2 days a week and lecturing 2 days a week.

Your input has been great. I can't think of a better source to get information from than from nursing students. Thanks! :)

mariedoreen · Jul 8, 2005

Yes, I'll be teaching clinicals 2 days a week and lecturing 2 days a week.
Your input has been great. I can't think of a better source to get information from than from nursing students. Thanks! :)

This probably seems obvious but I'll say it anyway since we only had one instructor do this for us last year: It's so much better for the students if you can try to match them up with a patient in clinical that goes along with what's being studied in lecture. My last term we had an instructor who was always on top of what we were learning in lecture and she would give us cases whenever possible that mirrored our topics. During the cardiac unit I got a CHF patient, during Respiratory I got a COPD patient, during Endocrine I got a diabetic patient, etc... Of course it's not always easy to do this but she sure tried whenever possible and it really just made what we were learning in class that much easier to comprehend.

MIA-RN1, RN · Jul 8, 2005

Yes, I'll be teaching clinicals 2 days a week and lecturing 2 days a week.
Your input has been great. I can't think of a better source to get information from than from nursing students. Thanks! :)

Our med-surg clinical faculty was an adjunct, which means she was NEVER on campus, didn't teach anything on campus at all and clinical was probably not as great as it could have been.

Keeping the cohesion between what happens on campus and what happens in clinical is a must.

Also, and maybe more than you want to hear, but please allow questions from your students!! My clinical instructor told us the 3rd week on the floor (which was not everyones 3rd week b/c of our off-floor experiences, that we were not to ask her questions about what we were doing (Am I doing this right? Is this what I should do next?) We were instructed to just do it, and trust her to stop us before we hurt anyone :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: That was awful because from that second on, none of us felt we could ask her anything.. Which made her evenings great since she could stand at the nurse's station all night and not have us ask her anything. Meanwhile, we were going quietly nuts with each other hoping we have things right and asking each other how to do stuff. Wasn't a good way to learn IMHO. Plus, you can fail clinical for issues of patient safety!At my end of semester evaluation with her, she told me that I should have trusted her more instead of questioning. I told her that I was trying to learn to trust myself and that I trusted her fine but I was trying to learn!

I guess her beef was that we should have more confidence in ourselves. Yet she took it away with just a look or a word on a daily basis.

Also, as an instructor, please try to stay in a good mood the whole shift instead of just the first couple hours. We dealt with that too.

She was nice, outside of clinicals. And at pre-conference. But after about halfway thru the shift, she got cranky and crabby with us and it was nerve wracking to have to tiptoe around her and be afraid to ask for help. Thank God for the nurses!

mgd31181 · Jul 9, 2005

A good lecture is very informative, but it doesn't teach application. The goal is trying to teach the material, and then how to apply it to the real world. I am finishing my first year in nursing school, and I would be lying if I said that I was not dissapointed in the whole experience. It's hard enough to learn everything that is taught, but it is even harder to apply it.

DeanG · Jul 9, 2005

I like the interactive lecture with PP slides also. Just an idea, if you get into a same old same old: one day our Prof. handed us each copies of three slides, for the first 30 min of class we had to learn as much as possible about our 3 slides and then one by one we taught eachother. Our Prof. drilled some of us, and encouraged classmates to ask questions. It was a nice change of pace, walls got broken down and we learned the material, as each new piece was presented in a unique voice.

lunakat · Jul 9, 2005

For reward I was thinking of chocolate of course!! :chuckle

:yeahthat: always love the choclate thing. Also one instructor would throw out pens or highlighters (we always need highlighters..)

suzy253, RN · Jul 9, 2005

For reward I was thinking of chocolate of course!! :chuckle

That'll work:)