Peer Lesson Plan
Background
Introduction
The aim of the planned teaching session is to ensure that 1st year students learn basic life support (BLS) which is important in increasing chances of a victim’s survival when administered properly. Education is relevant in the nursing practice because it provides nurses with the necessary tools required for nurses to impact people’s lives positively. It also ensures nurses provide best practice care delivery in a professional manner. Properly educated nurses avoid serious mistakes ensuring that patients receive the best healthcare. The next section of this paper includes the pre-teaching considerations which discuss learning theories, the target audience, learning style preferences and the teaching context. After that section, the six learning outcomes of the planned teaching session are detailed. Feedback considerations are then covered which includes the use of two methods to assess the student’s competence. In this part of the paper, the methods that will be used to give students feedback are discussed. The last section is the summation which provides a summary of the planned peer session.
Pre-Teaching Considerations
Learning theories.
Learning theories principally guide educational systems planning in clinical training (Aliakbari et al., 2015).These theories outline general principles which enable teachers to effectively use their knowledge. There are three types of learning theories in nursing which are the cognitive, behavioral and constructive learning theories. The cognitive learning theory focuses on thinking, understanding, organizing and the complexities of the human memory. The behavioral learning theory states that learning is a change in behavior which is observable. The constructive learning theory believes that the ability of a learner is highly dependent on knowledge that they already have.
The target audience.
The target audience is first year nursing students who need to learn BLS. BLS trainings in school curriculums enable students to be well versed with BLS skills (Sangamesh et al., 2017). First, the students will learn to assess whether casualties are responsive. For unresponsive casualties, they will learn to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). For casualties who are breathing, they will learn to place the casualty in the recovery position. Performance of CPR on pregnant women and post resuscitation care will be taught. The students will also learn to use an automatic defibrillator. In first aid, they will learn to manage chocking which will require them to assess whether the airway obstruction is severe or mild.
Learning style preferences.
Different students learn and retain knowledge differently thus different learning styles can be used. Visual styles are used by learners who prefer to use charts and diagrams to absorb knowledge while auditory styles are used by learners who prefer to learn information when spoken. Reading/writing styles are used by learners who prefer knowledge that is presented in words while kinesthetic styles are used by learners who prefer to apply the new knowledge they have learnt through carrying out physical activities. Unfamiliar terminologies will not be used for the session so that the students fully understand the content of the session.
Teaching/learning context.
Peer teaching is used to teach less experienced peers to master specific skills in an area of focus. It is beneficial in improving the competence of the less experienced peers in the focus area. It also encourages collaboration of more experienced and less experienced students within the same discipline. This is specifically helpful to students who are less experienced because they can ask for help from the experienced peers whenever they need it. Experienced peers are in a suitable position to answer these questions due to their higher level of knowledge. Peer learning is also beneficial in reducing anxiety and increasing confidence and competence (Stone, Cooper & Cant, 2013).
Lesson Plan
Learning Outcomes
After completing this peer teaching session, the 1st-year Bachelor of Nursing student should be able to:
- Assess whether a casualty is responsive.
- Apply cardiopulmonary resuscitation to casualties.
- Identify when to place casualties in the recovery position.
- Differentiate the roles of team members during resuscitation.
- Carry out defibrillation on casualties using an automatic defibrillator
- Assess whether foreign body airway obstruction (chocking) is severe or mild
Table 1: Lesson Plan
| Timing (Minutes) | Content (Topic/subtopic) | Activity/teaching approach | Resources | Evaluation Methods |
| Set 5 minutes | – Introductions – Discussion ofthe six intended learning outcomes – Discussion onthe importance of learning BLS | – Learners explain their experience with BLS, if any | -Printed learning outcomes | -Student feedback |
| Body 40 minutes | Students should be able to: –Assess whether acasualtyisresponsive – Apply CPR to casualties – Assess whether airway obstruction is mild or severe – Identify when to place casualties in the recovery position – Carry out defibrillation – Differentiate team members roles during resuscitation | – Learners ask questions on BLS | – Teaching resource (New Zealand Resuscitation Council, 2016) | -Question and answer session |
| Closure 15 minutes | – Summary of session | – Learners explain their understanding of BLS from the session | – Teaching resource (New Zealand Resuscitation Council, 2016) | -Assignment |
Learning outcome 1: Assess whether a patient is responsive.
During this session, students should learn to assess whether a casualty is responsive which is done through talking or touching the casualty. For casualties who are not responsive, help is required immediately. Students should also know the hospital options for this such as shouting for help and calling the emergency phone number.
Learning outcome 2: Apply cardiopulmonary resuscitation to casualties.
During this session, students should learn to apply CPR to casualties effectively which is crucial to survival. It should be carried out until normal breathing returns or responsiveness (New Zealand Resuscitation Council, 2016). Nurses are required to have basic resuscitation skills because they are usually the first responders to cardiac arrests in hospitals (Padilla, et al., 2014).
Learning outcome 3:Identify when to place casualties in the recovery position.
Students should learn how to place casualties who are normally breathing in the recovery position. This position is important in ensuring the casualty’s airway remains open. It is used for unconscious casualties who are breathing and have no other life-threatening conditions.
Learning outcome 4:Differentiate the roles of team members during resuscitation.
Students should understand the different roles of the team members during resuscitation. The team members involved in resuscitation include medication people, runners, scribes, the airway breathing person and defibrillation person. Other team members include the compression person, team leader and the medication people.
Learning outcome 5: Carry out defibrillation on casualties using an automatic defibrillator.
Students should be able to carry out defibrillation which interrupts the abnormal activity in the heart. For this purpose, it is vital that students understand how to use an automatic external defibrillator. It is important that the students understand that time management is an important factor in basic life support (Terzi, et. al., 2017). This is because time to defibrillation is key to survival.
Learning outcome 6: Assess whether foreign body airway obstruction (chocking) is severe or mild.
Students should learn to manage foreign body airway obstruction which requires the student to assess whether the obstruction is mild or severe. For severe airway obstruction, help is required whether the patient is responsive or unresponsive. Unresponsive casualties require CPR while responsive casualties need 5 chest thrusts and back blows (New Zealand Resuscitation Council, 2016). For mild airway obstruction, coughing should be encouraged.
Feedback Considerations
Current studies indicate that medical students have insufficient knowledge on the risk factors associated with serious health conditions (Tipa & Bobirnac, 2015). Therefore, it is important to give feedback to students as it improves the performance of students in the subject area. Giving feedback entails explaining to students what they are doing correctly and what they are doing incorrectly. Students can use this knowledge to know their strengths and weaknesses in regard to the subject area. For this purpose, there will be a question and answer period during the session to learn what the students have understood during the session. I will ask the students questions on the content covered in the session and listen to their answers to review whether the students understood the session’s content. It is also important to understand the extent of the students’ understanding on topics they have understood. After the students answer the questions asked, I will give themoral feedback on the areas they have understood well and the ones they need to improve on. The students will also be able to ask questions on the specific areas they have not understood thus enabling me to fully comprehend the effectiveness of the session.
I will also give the students an assignment on the subject at the end of the session which they will submit at a later specified date. This assignment will be useful in gauging the individual understanding of the students. Assignments are particularly useful because they increase the learning capabilities of students because students are given a chance to practice by themselves. The assignment will include a rubric which will provide the expectations of the assignment. Once I mark the assignment, I will communicate to the students their overall score along with the areas which individual students need to improve on.
In order to assess the learner’s competence, the two methods explained above will be used. The assignment will serve as a self-assessment tool to analyze the level of understanding of individual students. Assessments are important in the clinical practice to ensure that the competence of nursing students is judged accurately (Baumgartner, et al. 2017).The students can use the results from the assignments to see their individual strengths and weaknesses. This will enable them to improve accordingly in the areas that need improvement. The question and answer session will enable me to understand whether the students achieved the learning outcomes of the session. This is because the answers the students give to questions asked on the subject area will show what the students grasped during the session.
Summation
Knowledge of resuscitation skills is critical in the nursing profession (Allen, Curry & Considine, 2013).The planned peer teaching activity aims to ensure students achieve the learning outcomes of the session and give feedback to students. These learning outcomes include learning how to assess whether patients are responsive, apply cardiopulmonary resuscitation to casualties and understand how to place casualties in the recovery position. They also include learning to differentiate the roles of team members during resuscitation, carry out defibrillation on casualties using an automatic defibrillator and assess whether foreign body airway obstruction (chocking) is severe or mild. Students will also be provided with relevant learning materials and they will be given a chance to ask for more learning materials that they feel are necessary.
Any questions which the students need to ask during the session will be answered. Two methods will be used to assess the students’ competence which include an assignment and a question and answer period. The question and answer period will provide students with the opportunity of asking important questions which will be quite beneficial. Students will also give feedback on the effectiveness of the session in learning the subject content. Any improvements students feel would increase the effectiveness of the session can also be communicated.
References
Aliakbari,F., Parvin, N., Heidari, M. & Haghani, F. (2015). Learning theories application in
nursing education. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 4.
Allen, J. A., Currey, J.& Considine, J. (2013). Annual resuscitation competency assessments: A
review of the evidence. Australian Critical Care, 26.
Baumgartner, R., Stahl, C. H., Manninen, K. & Hedman, A. M. R. (2017). Journal of Nursing
Education and Practice, 7.
New Zealand Resuscitation Council (2016). Basic Life Support.
New Zealand Resuscitation Council (2016). Foreign Body Airway Obstruction.
Padilla, J. H., Suthers, F. &Sola, C. F. (2014). Development and psychometric assessment of the
Basic Resuscitation Skills Self-Efficacy Scale. European Journal of Cardiovascular
Nursing.