Post conference ideas

I think it definitely helps to debrief and offer students an opportunity to ask questions about anything they encountered.

Once we got further along, our instructor occasionally did Jeopardy, where she'd ask us questions, especially med questions. In the very end, we got to do reverse jeopardy with her (the woman was a walking medical encyclopedia).

I agree with you that saying "nothing that makes us think" is unrealistic and lacks any benefit. This is a great opportunity for students to ask anything they couldn't ask on the floor, and to ask about upcoming opportunities (ie pt has surgery/MRI/ultrasound tomorrow, can I go?).

Also, you can teach a topic each time. For example, our maternal child instructor did a quick lesson about DIC or managing postpartum hemorrhage. You can do something pertinent to the area you're teaching (med/surg, I assume). Teach them about hepatorenal failure or hip replacement post-op care.

I like guest speakers. Have someone come in to discuss a clinical procedure or situation from their point of view. Could be Respiratory Therapy, PT/OT, Dietician, ---- I remember how amazed students were to learn that placement of the IV site was critical for some procedures, as well as size of cathlon. They just never put it together before.

Our instructor last semester (2nd semester of ADN) had us give report to the group on our patient for the day, as though we were handing off. It was interesting and we could talk about certain health issues and procedures as we encountered them.

I did a couple of things. One, I had everybody sign up to give one post conference on a topic of choice-- we passed around a sign-up sheet c dates so there would be no duplication. Some did disease states, some did a particular surgery, or an outline of what particular labs meant, or what a nursing union was, or ... fascinating stuff.

This accomplished a couple of things: It got me info on what they thought might be important, it gave everyone a chance to practice some public speaking/teaching (useful nursing skill), it established everyone as a (comparative) expert on something for their peers to consult (good modeling for collaborative practice), and they each got some one-on-one time with me to help them prepare, so I got to know them better.

There was also a sign-up sheet for snack-- on your snack day, you had to bring copies of the recipe if you made it yourself :). Everybody liked that a lot.

I also did guest speakers, like clinical educators or diagnostic areas (cath lab, pulmonary function, diagnostic radiology, cardiac rehab, Alzheimer's/dementia care ...) to speak briefly about their specialties. I offered field trips for one clinical day or two together to go visit those areas, with the CE's permission.

I did a few sessions on consciousness-raising-- I got a bunch of eyeglasses from lost and found and dirtied them lightly with vaseline, had some ear plugs, got some big work gloves, and had them don some or all of it, then handed them those little golf-score pencils that dietary gives out to fill out menus, and had them fill out their menus (no peeking), then eat lunch with the gloves and vision/hearing limitations too. It was an, um, eye-opening experience for them to see what some of their elderly patients' experience was.

Then another time I took a willing volunteer and dressed him in a patient gown, snaked a Foley drainage tube up his (lower) pant leg and hung the bag on the wheelchair, restrained one hand and leg (like paralysis), and coached him to slump over a bit and not to answer questions. He looked really pathetic. This was a wake-up call, because they knew him well, and it was a shock to see someone they knew well with these conditions-- the person came to the forefront, not the disease. Another good lesson.

I did an exercise where I dimmed the lights and had them relax and close their eyes, and invited them to look at their lives as they aged. "Imagine yourself at 30 .... forty .... fifty .... sixty .... seventy .... eighty ... ninety..." They didn't have to say anything, this was strictly a though experiment. Again, another way to get them to see older people as ...just people like themselves, only older, as they would be one day.

I think the most interesting thing was that I began every clinical conference with a five-question, five-minute med math quiz. They worked them for 5 minutes while I wolfed down my lunch. At the beginning of the semester, there was hardly anyone who got more than 1/5 right, and I spent the next 5 minutes showing how to think about these problems and solve them easily. They thought I was mean, especially when they discovered their classmates didn't have to do that, but then a funny thing happened.... they got really good at it and realized their classmates were very nervous about this skill. I also discovered that my fellow faculty didn't care that their fourth (out of four) semester students couldn't figure out how to draw up 350mg of something that came 600mg/5cc or figure out how fast to run a heparin drip at 880 units/hour. "They all passed pharmacology," was what I heard in faculty meeting. "I don't know about that, but they can't do med math," said I. Not a popular person :) But my groups came to adore me :) and they each gave me great (and completely unexpected) thankyous in the form of notes and little gag gifties and sometimes, really nice gifties.

Our instructors treat post conference as if we are giving hand off report to the incoming shift. She asks us questions about our patient after and explains some concepts that we may not be familiar with. But our group is relatively small, so we have the time for 6 people to give hand off.

This sounds lame... BUT - one of my teachers would assign 10 nursing math problems each week, and we would go through them together.

Was it annoying at the time? Yes.

Am I greatful she did that now? YES.

I have never missed a dosage question on a test because we got so much practice!!!

I'm thankful for that now that I've got one semester left. All my dosage questions on tests and on the spot are cake!

Oh - and our instructor did NCLEX style questions with us over whatever topic/section was on our upcoming test. LOVED THIS! Time for us to ask questions and see where we were lacking in our reading. Plus - it usually applied to what we were doing in clinicals anyway! It was nice to have someone there to explain rationals or even share their own way of remembering certain concepts.

I have just graduated from a BSN program meaning I had 2+ years of clinicals and not one of the instructors focused on teaching how to give a good report! This was a real challenge for me when I started my preceptorship. I would worry less about fun and focus more on practical skills. The one thing that my clinical instructors did do was teach us how to write a proper nurses note. I would REALLY suggest focusing on these two things!!! They will thank you later!

Honestly, I wish that we had actually learned about nursing notes. Sure we wrote them, but each instructor had a different style, yet they all called it a narrative note. I wish we could've dissected patient charts more in depth. I also wish that we could've discussed more of the whole picture. For example. Let's say there are 7 students on a med surg floor and each had one patient, we could give report on all of the patients and then discuss how these could all be in one assignment. This could be great for those challenging prioritization questions

I'm a nursing student and one of my clinical instructors had us practice verbally present handoff reports about our patients. It was such a great experience! I definitely recommend that. It helped prepare me for doing handoff reports in preceptorship.

As a newly graduated nurse, I will speak to what I liked in Post conference and/or wished I had more of.

1: I liked when each person got the opportunity to give report on their patient. Giving a good report is a skill and I wish that more of my clinical instructors had us practice that.

2: I liked when I had the opportunity to tell the other students about something "cool" or interesting that happened, like getting to watch a procedure etc. I also liked hearing about other students' experiences as well.

3: I liked when instructors would actively teach us about topics that directly related to what we were covering in class. This allowed for a more focused Q and A session about the topic as well.

4: Although not directly related to post conference, I also appreciated the instructors that would come around to the unit and have a little one on one chat. A little "hey, how are you doing? What are you working on? Do you have any questions?" in private made the instructor just seem more approachable and like they truly cared about my success.

I will also say this.. It's very nice to have the clinical instructor who is super friendly and nice, but the ones I felt like I learned the most from are the ones that weren't afraid to be tough when needed, who set limits and boundaries for students and whom were clear in their expectations.

Good Luck!