Teaching Plan-Over the Counter Meds

Jolie, BSN · Nov 8, 2005

Hello All--
Just wanted to get some input from you all. I have to give a teaching plan to 9th and 10th graders on the topic of uses of OTC's. I'm a first semester nursing student, this is part of my community based pediatric clinical.
I'm looking to find out a way to involve the students, so they won't be bored, I want to keep them interested.
I'm going to focus on treating the symptom, how to read labels, what ingredients do, common medications for specific symptoms.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanx in advance!

This is an interesting topic to be presenting to young adults who undoubtedly self-administer medications. Just be aware of their schools' policies and procedures about students carrying OTC meds to school. Some schools have zero tolerance policies and will expel those unlucky enough to be "caught" with Tylenol in their posession.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Nov 9, 2005

We had to do a similar presentation when I was in my BSN classes. Most everyone in my class had the similar experience. . .the kids will only be interested if you talk about something that is interesting to this age group. The first thing that crossed my mind was to address the abuse of OTC meds. Teenagers, you might remember, are kind of rebellious and a rebel topic is going to be of interest to them. Now, I'm not good at what gets abused because I don't do it, but I know that there is a problem with the active ingredient of OTC cough syrups, abuse of analgesics and stimulants like NoDoz and Vivarin, and girls overusing the OTC diet pills. You might do a little research and ask some teenagers what they would go into a drug store looking for and why. We are also coming into the cold and flu season so that could be a potential subject.

For our teaching project, we had to spend the quarter observing in a middle school health class once a week, discuss with their teacher what would be an appropriate subject and let the teacher know what and when we were going to do this.

Coming up with some shocking anectodal stories will help get their attention. Remember also, that their attention span is very short and they can get bored very quickly. You should try to plan to get them to become involved in a discussion or come up with some interactive little game you can play with them as a group to reinforce what you are trying to teach.