Skills Lab

[nursex3]

We are going to look at how nursing skills are taught in our nursing program. We are an associate degree program with approximately 300 students. Currently, we have identified skills that the faculty believe are essential for the new graduate. The skills are divided between five nursing classes. We would appreciate any information on skills labs you would be willing to share. Thank you!

[puggymae]

How have you done skills lab in the past? Or is this a completely new program?

[nursex3]

We have a skills lab. There has been several issues this year related to the students having the opportunity to see the demos and then test off.

[ceecel.dee, MSN, RN]

We demo skills as part of the brief lecture we give on each separate topic. The students are to bring their kits to class and begin the hands on right there at their tables where "dry runs" are done with their catheter or enema or sterile field, whatever, just to get a feel for the steps, where the supplys go, where they cannot reach, etc. We then go to the lab where they work in their groups (of 3 or 4, picked by faculty). This we call "guided practice" time. Students have a check off sheet with all of the skills on it, and 6 columns (boxes) behind the name of the skill with room for initials. Students must have practice verified x3 by a lab partner, and once by a faculty member (who float around the room observing technique, adding helpful tips, making corrections if needed, giving encouragement, and answering questions). The extra boxes can be used if faculty request extra practice or whatever.

Some of our skills we require an official test-out, but this is done after the guided practice sessions.

This works out quite well and we find that the students are very self-directed and get right to work. (We used to be much less formal about how many times we wanted them to practice, and so many just didn't! They'd come for test-out without their catheter package even being opened up!! Of course, they had to be led through the whole thing, and was way too time consuming...so we put it on them, and have been very pleased! They are so prepared, and at test out time we barely need say anything but good job!)

[eccentricRN]

I attended an ADN program, and we had a short lecture on each skill, but lab time for practice & to test off was our responsibility... we had to test off in front of the skills staff each & every skill we were required to learn. We had a shedule that required us to complete test of of specific skills within a certain time frame. Failure to do so resulted in an automatic fail for that skill. We had a number scale of 0-4... it was based on whether you tested off successfully on your 1st, 2nd or late, etc... you had to successfully complete the test off for each skill, however, you may end up with a 0 in the end... failure to test off on a skills garnered an incomplete for the class. We were also required to schedule our own times for skill test offs & failure to cancel 24hrs prior or coming late or just not showing up (with legitamite exceptions of course) resulted in you inability to return to the lab for 1 week... it was to encourage accountability in the students. I thought it was effective, nerve wracking, but I learned alot & the skill lab staff was AWESOME... they were always available to answer questions & they really wanted us to succeed...so I'm not an educator...sorry for butting in, but that's my .

BTW we had skills in 2 semesters, our 1st, they had to be completed within the 1st 12 weeks & then again in 3rd semester, they had to be completed in the 1st 4-6wks... I can't remember exactly.