Nursing Education: Practicum Lesson Plan

NUR-665E Practicum Lesson Plan Template
Please note, this lesson plan will be implemented in the practicum setting. Complete the practicum lesson plan outline below. The lesson plan must be completed using this template.
1. Description of the Topic, Practicum Setting, and Learners
* Topic: Nursing Education Practicum
* Practicum setting: Graduate-level class
* Learners: Students seeking to obtain a graduate degree in nursing
2. Lesson Outcomes (Include additional outcomes as needed.)
* Grasp and develop a deep understanding of the different teaching strategies employed.
Here, the students will be expected to learn through action. This means that they will be required to practice what they learn. The goal is to make sure that they not only grasp the concepts but also know how to get the best out of the same concepts.
* A deep understanding of the importance of evidence-based research in nursing education.
Nursing education is the foundation of impeccable nursing. However, its progression and continual ascension hinge on advancement in research and the application of the same research. The students will be expected to grasp the relationship between nursing education, the progress of the nursing profession in general, and evidence-based research.
* Practice and showcase a working relationship and collaboration with others.
The foundation of the medical world, especially nursing, is based on how well people communicate and collaborate with other professionals. However, collaboration and effective communication is honed while in class with one’s peers. Therefore, the students will be expected to work well with each other, communicate effectively, and deliver on whichever tasks they have been assigned.
* Understand how best to leverage the nursing process in building better nurse-patient collaboration.
Today, healthcare organizations are focusing on delivering what they call patient-centered care. Patient-centered care mainly entails providing care with an emphasis on respecting and responding to a patient’s needs, values, preferences, and beliefs. This calls for a better understanding of patients and not just their healthcare issues. Therefore, there is a need for nurses to develop an understanding of how best to build better relationships with patients throughout the nursing process for effective and fruitful patient-nurse collaboration.
* Develop a problem-based approach to clinical situations.
Evidence-based teaching strategies will be employed in this practicum, and students will be equipped with a problem-based approach to real-life situations and challenges within the hospital setup. Nursing students need more than theoretical knowledge when they go out to the field. Therefore, employing a problem-based learning approach will help them apply the knowledge they amass.
* Develop a case-by-case understanding of the nursing profession.
In the nursing profession, though cases might present similarities, the approach to dealing with cases can change from time to time depending on the factors surrounding a particular case. For example, two patients can share a healthcare problem, but the first patient’s religious beliefs can force a nurse to take a different approach to the case altogether. On the other hand, the second patient can follow the expected procedure to the end. So, it is crucial also to develop a case-by-case experience.
3. Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies (Describe the strategies you will use to teach the content and address the diverse learning styles of the students. Include additional strategies as needed.)
* Problem-based learning
PBL provides an effective platform for nursing students to enhance their problem-solving skills through direct engagement with realistic problems in a practicum, natural, or simulated setting. The nursing educator facilitates the learning program by providing a problematic stimulus for the nursing students to acquire and develop knowledge by engaging and exercising their critical thinking abilities. As the learning process facilitator, the nurse educator’s teaching activities will include presenting the problematic stimulus for the session and providing general guidelines and timelines to assist the class in developing a common framework of expectations.
* Group discussions
Group discussions mainly entail the idea of allocating a task to a group of students. Such an approach to learning is just as important as any other strategy because of its impact on helping students prepare for the healthcare environment. One crucial fact about group discussions is that the entire group is awarded the same marks (Nuuyoma, 2017). This is important because it reinforces or helps challenge students to give their best as a group. What this implies is that the group will find ways to work together to deliver better results. Through group discussions, students learn how to collaborate with others, a key ingredient in the healthcare environment as well as communication.
* Case-based learning
Case-based learning or teaching strategy embraces the idea of mimicking real work through examples or cases. Through this strategy, students are introduced to real-life situations where they are expected to apply their knowledge and solve problems. According to Liu et al. (2020), one advantage of this strategy is that it helps enhance the comprehensive abilities of nursing students. Therefore, students are able to comprehend the pressure that comes with the healthcare environment later in life. These sentiments are echoed by Li, Ye, and Chen (2019), who claim that case-based learning helps enhance students’ critical thinking abilities. Using this method teaches students to improvise and to adapt to different scenarios regardless of difficulty levels. Further, it is a learning strategy that focuses entirely on the students and their abilities to build their knowledge through real-world examples.
* Reflection
As a learning strategy, reflection may not seem important or as crucial as the other strategies. However, reflection is an important strategy that stimulates learning in students. According to Miraglia and Asselin (2015), reflective strategy as a teaching tool is important because it helps enhance students’ readiness to apply theoretical knowledge. Through reflection, students get to offer a personal understanding of a concept or topic, and this can be a great way for teachers to evaluate their students. Further, reflection also helps to stimulate a student’s thinking because it challenges them to consider the theoretical part of their studies and how they would apply the same knowledge while in the field.
4. Content Outline (Outline the content that will be covered in the lesson. Include the timeframe for each activity. Add additional bullet points as needed.)
* Opening activities: Week 1 – Days 1 and 2
* Orientation into nursing education – Day 1
Here, students are getting acquainted with nursing education. Questions and answer sessions will be held, with students encouraged to share more and ask questions.
* Discussion of learning objectives/outcomes – Day 1
The learning objectives will be outlined for the students, and the instructors’ expectations will be outlined for the students. This will mainly be a repeat of the outlined learning outcomes.
* Discussion of student expectations – Day 2
The students will also be expected to share their thoughts and views regarding their expectations throughout the learning experiences. Here, they will share their fears, doubts, and questions, and the instructors will do their best to respond to all of them. The goal of doing this is to ensure that the instructors understand the students’ expectations as they start the class.
* Discussion of student goals – Day 2
The students will be encouraged to develop their personal goals and to monitor their progress against these goals. Different strategies will be shared, including the development of general goals (for the entire learning experience) and the development of short-term, topic-by-topic goals. Regardless of the approach taken, the students will be encouraged to develop some goals.
* Formation of discussion groups – Day 2
Forming these groups early will help offer them an opportunity to start bonding or building relationships. So, this will be among the first things to be done.
* Teaching and learning activities:
* Problem-Based Learning
As the facilitator of the learning process, the teaching activities for the nurse educator in problem-based learning (PBL) will include presenting the problematic stimulus in a given health care setting for the session (Ku, 2016). For instance, the role of nursing education in addressing a particular healthcare problem. The nursing educator will also provide general guidelines and timelines to assist the class in developing a common framework of expectations on the lesson. Another teaching activity will be continuous questioning of nursing students about the concepts learned in the context of the problematic stimulus presented. Learning activities will include clarifying of terms and agreeing on definitions from the information provided in the problematic stimulus for the session. Students will then identify the problem, brain storm through learned knowledge and apply it in analyzing the problem, formulate hypothesis, and prioritize their learning objectives in evaluating the problem. Students will also embrace self-directed study to meet the learning objectives through research. Students will also integrate and apply the newly acquired data and information in understanding and solving the problem in follow-up group discussions facilitated by the nurse educator.
* Group Discussions
Like in problem-based learning, nursing educators play the role of facilitators and cognitive modelers in sessions entailing group discussions (Nuuyoma,2017). The teaching activities involved in using small group discussions include providing pre-assigned reading on nursing education to prepare...