Post-conference Ideas

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Sep 20, 2015

What if you follow a few each time you are in clinicals, and then have them email you with a run down on their patient, their nursing diagnosis, after a bit of reflection what they could/should have done differently....that kind of thing. Then it can be interactive. Or if you have the ability to do a "chat" scenario--but with email it is something you then can think about and respond to on your own time.

Additionally, you can have students who ask some "off guard" questions look up the answers. And perhaps use that as a small blurb/paper assignment that they can share with the class.

One of the best modes of learning for some is the whole patient/case study part of things. You can do that by not identifying the patient at all, but use the diagnosis. It helps students think globally, I think.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Sep 20, 2015

No, your student DON'T know that you have been in a specialty and don't know everything. They think you remember everything from nursing school and beyond. Really. They view you as the infallible oracle. Let them down gently. This is a GREAT way for YOU to model the critical need for continuing education and problem solving. It is OK to say, "I don't know - let's find out!", and then, together, find the answer.

Think about the scariest nurse you've ever worked with. It's the one who would rather make a mistake than let someone know she doesn't know the answer- right? Letting your students know that YOU are not above asking for help will go a long, long way toward modeling the correct behavior in that case.

That said, the one minute paper can be an effective post-conference now and then. Do you subscribe to any journals? You'll find good case studies (with the ANSWERS) there as well.

Asking students to reflect on key behaviors can also be an effective post conference. For example, "How did you maintain patient confidentiality / medication safety / cultural awareness today?" This gives all students a chance to participate, and helps them learn from others' experiences.

I hope some of this is helpful.

katfuter · Sep 20, 2015

I think an appropriate answer when you are caught off guard would be, "Because I've worked in ___ specialty for a while, I'm not too familiar with ABG analysis. However this is a learning opportunity for both of us and lets look up the answer tomorrow/tonight and get back to each other."

For post conference ideas, maybe you can choose a topic or ask a student to choose a topic every day (depending on the unit you're on) such as heart failure, post op complications, cardiac meds, communicating with the nurses, etc and ask the students to say what they know about these topics. You could pose questions like What are symptoms we would assess in heart failure? What are ways we can prevent pneumonia after surgery? What difficulties have you found when communicating with the nurses?

If something specific happened on the unit, for example a family member was angry/yelled at a student, you could address this further and pose questions to the other students like what should they do when this happens, did the student handle it well or what could they have done differently next time? What did they learn about this experience?

When I was a student I enjoyed post conferences where it was OK we went a little off topic from the care plans/patients and were able to talk about what was on our mind.

FurBabyMom, MSN, RN · Sep 20, 2015

We had to share about our day in post-conference. What did we get to do skills-wise? Did we get to give IM or SQ injections, start an IV, place foley, etc? Did we get to go observe a procedure (central line insertion, PEGs, etc) or a test (ex. EEG or ultrasound). We also got to go to the OR during one of our med-surg rotations - so there was that to talk about too. I had the same instructor for several clinical courses, she always made us identify something we could have done a little differently (time management, been a little more prepared about a medication, handled a conversation a little better - usually this came up with respect to setting expectations with floor nurses).

During specific rotations like peds and mother-baby we had some "alternate situations" we were exposed to. I can remember one of the babies we all took turns loving on and feeding in the newborn nursery during mother-baby was totally alone in the world - dad had signed rights away and mom left them for placement in social services/adoption. That poor kiddo was barely put down while we were there. When I was on peds we had a kiddo whose family couldn't be present with the child without hospital staff present (secondary to an abuse investigation). We also had situations that were complicated in our med-surg, critical care and psych placements - who had power of attorney, sticky family situations (patient married to ABC but in a relationship with XYZ as their "boyfriend/girlfriend"/fiance) where legally, it was not what people (within the family) expected and a situation where caregivers had to learn to handle things delicately. Sometimes our "share" wasn't so much about what we did skill wise but how we handled a specific situation.

Sometimes, our instructors looked at lab values one of our patients had had, and gave them to the group. Admitting diagnosis, some assessment info (sometimes) and the labs. What is going on, what might happen, etc.

Other times, our instructors would let us use the remaining time to ask questions about concepts we had recently learned in school - we could talk it out as a group because if one student had a questions chances are others do too, and sometimes others learn something a little easier/make a connection not presented in lecture.

Certain clinical courses required a group project and usually we were put in groups based on clinical groups. Sometimes we had time to work on group projects in post-conference (like when we had to pick a patient one of our group members took care of, research their course and present them).

Hope this helps. :)

Baking Nurse · Oct 6, 2015

Something that my students seem to enjoy doing is a game called "Spin the Urinal". I put 10 topics in a new - never used urinal :) It can be anything from a subject they covered in class that week, a med a students did not know, or something I want to discuss with them. I normally do 1 per student. I spin it the first time and whoever it lands on has to pick out 1 topic. That student then has 1 minute to tell me everything they know about it. Then the rest of the students have 1 minute to fill in what the original student left out. I then give any additional information they may need. I feel it is a good way to bridge the theory and clinical experience.

elkpark · Oct 6, 2015

I've handed out articles (that I selected, so I know they're decent articles and so I can a) be prepared for the discussion later and b) know how good a job the student did of summarizing) on the common diagnoses we're seeing in clinical, and each student has to, once during the semester, take an article, read it during the week, and, the following week in postconference, present a summary to the rest of the group. I've also had students do group presentations (short) on diagnoses for the rest of the group; nothing that requires a lot of effort or preparation, but something that covers the key info about the disorders. Sometimes the students get v. creative and do a great job.

canigraduate · Oct 6, 2015

When I was in school, the instructors mostly went over our days with us. We would discuss any unusual pathologies and talk about treatments.

One instructor made us write a paper. Hated that! Like I had time to write a paper while careplanning. Ummm, no.

When I was an instructor, I went over the day with the students and asked them if they had any questions. We usually had a spontaneous discussion afterwards. Sometimes, I would go over something I noticed they were weak in. I also did lots of skills validations. I had my blood pressure checked soooo many times. I gave a quiz every clinical day on dosage calculations. I also taught a lot of Pharm, with the patients' meds in focus. I gave them 10 minutes at the end to ask care plan questions, which we would go over together as a group.

Hope that helps some.

plainfieldguy · Dec 4, 2015

Here are a few ideas that might be helpful...

1. Perhaps you can find some other health professionals to come speak to your clinical group (e.g., wound care, infection control, risk management, pastoral services, etc.) That can give you a little break while showing them the importance of interprofessional collaboration!

2. Use a piece of posterboard or other large sheet of paper and have them collaborate on a giant concept map for a patient with COPD, cholecystectomy, new ostomy, delirium, etc.

3. Give the group a short case study to analyze and discuss. Throw in curves balls to change the case study as they are discussing it... now what would you do?

4. Have the students reflect on and discuss their attitudes, values, emotions about their clinical experience with "difficult" or unusual patients---for example, the elderly woman with no family to visit her, the detox patient who is unruly, the end-of-life patient, etc. How does it affect their perspective on nursing?

5. If you have access to an empty room, set it up with a bunch of "mistakes" and see if students can find them all. (foley on bed, expired IV tubing, etc.) If the staff have time, ask them to play out a brief patient scenario with mistakes. Did the students notice if the nurse "scrubbed the hub" for a long enough time? Did the nurse leave the bed in high position? etc. This requires a little planning, but it was one of my favorite activities as a student!

Good luck!

plainfieldguy · Dec 4, 2015

One more idea... allnurses and other websites have cartoons about nurses, doctors, healthcare environment, etc. Put a bunch in a basin, let students choose one and discuss. There are kernels of truth in the humor that relate to nursing practice (bullying, work stress, patient complaints, staffing, etc.). It can be a fun, non-threatening way to talk about professional issues!

zzisaac · Jan 5, 2016

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of these ideas about post-clinical! In the book "Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation" (Benner's, Sutphen, Leanard, Day, 2010) they identified the post-clinical as one of the very special things in nursing education that we are doing WELL. We need to keep it up! I do think it is a time for both reflection - something the student might need to process in a safe environment, as well as validation of either knowledge or skill. I personally don't think it should be a time for new content/learning. I have had 'guests' people from other areas - come and speak to the students occasionally, but found just the processing/reflection is much more valuable.

evolvingrn, BSN, RN · Jan 5, 2016

When I teach . Each week one student presents a small clinical presentation related to the specialty. We then discuss and ask them questions.