Ideas for groups run by RNs?

Davey Do · Mar 18, 2015

The Best Groups I have ever ran contained Instilled Information I was Privy To that was also Interesting to me. It's much easier to Share Interest than to Come Up With Ideas for Groups.

Basic Anatomy/Physiology, Pharmacology, How Meds Work, Alcohol and Other Drugs Effects on the Various Body Systems are just a few of the Groups that went over well.

Good Luck to you, greenbeanio. You seem to be Quite the Shaker and Mover. Good for you!

Safety Coach RN · Mar 18, 2015

I prefer topics on general patient safety. They seem to go over real well with the adolescents.

Sheryl18 · Mar 18, 2015

We run Med Ed, nutrition, hygiene and anything related to health

Mandychelle79, ASN, RN · Mar 23, 2015

I can facilitate any group that is scheduled and depending on staffing matrix do so. Groups that go over well with me running

Med group

coping skills

relapse prevention (dual unit)

anger management

areas I have experience in

lasair · Mar 23, 2015

relaxation, yoga, meditation, weekly service user meetings, information on patient rights, mental health act,

greenbeanio · Mar 24, 2015

Thank you all! Do you have any links to handouts or details of the information you present? It would be good to have something as a starting point to then adapt for our own use.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Mar 26, 2015

I agree with what Davey Do said about running groups that you are interested in. I am an LVN. I ran 2 groups per week. My facilities reqmts were very broad, I had to cover MSE and S/S management.

I taught on good food choices, DMII, HTN, Safe Sex, Cold and Flu Prevention, names / categories of meds, teaching clients how to be able to describe their symptoms, not feeling stigmatized, reasons why they need to take their meds and the importance of avoiding substances such as drugs, caffeine, alcohol.

My clients enjoyed my classes- I think! I kept them short, engaging, used visual displays and brought in examples when feasible.

Andi777 · Mar 28, 2015

Thank you all! Do you have any links to handouts or details of the information you present? It would be good to have something as a starting point to then adapt for our own use.

Check with your unit. A lot of times there are pre-printed, tried and true handouts or presentations already available.

Steer away from anything online that could possibly have a copyright on it. The last thing you want to do is THAT!

But to get a starting point for your OWN material, try the standard Mental Health websites, magazines, professional journals, etc. Get your ideas, balance it out w/ evidence-based/ unit-specific and go from there.

Make your own handouts. Nothing difficult.

One idea our RN's came up with was Seasonal Affective Disorder. We found free copyright-free coloring pages on line of the Sun. We researched what SAD was -- made sure it reflected the general population of our unit (it did) and made some teaching points: what it was, symptoms, & positive coping mechanisms, then open discussion, Q & , and arts and crafts.

The whole set up took maybe 15 minutes, on the fly, right before group started.

buttercup99 · Mar 29, 2015

This site has some good resources. Also check the 'workbooks' section for self help modules that can be used as a base, in conjunction with sessions. These are all designed to be used without needing special permission.

One place I worked had daily coping skills/early warning signs classes. Each patient was given a book with various exercises and there were about 6 sessions that covered the topics, that would be repeated in irregular rotation, so it didn't matter if people missed a session. (This was a step down unit where half the patients would be out "integrating into society" at any given time.) That particular book was from a different mob, though, not online.