Exploring how we can improve nursing education together! Practical active learning ideas and interesting thoughts about nursing education.
🎭 New Series! Lights, camera, learn! Using elaborative rehearsal in nursing education
Published about 1 year ago • 3 min read
Welcome to this new series! 🎭
At the last minute, my neighbor asked me to attend a performance of Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical. Although I couldn’t remember all of the details of the original movie (it came out in 1993!!), it was fun to see the creativity used to update the story and create the theatre performance.
On the way home, we talked about how difficult it must be to remember all the lines. And not only the lines, but the music, the movements, the acting! Of course, I went down a rabbit hole and found this interesting articulation about how performers remember their lines:
"Repeating items over and over, called maintenance rehearsal, is not the most effective strategy for remembering. Instead, actors engage in elaborative rehearsal, focusing their attention on the meaning of the material and associating it with information they already know."
Essentially, actors will use necessary context for lines to recall their work naturally, rather than forcibly. What if we could use this principle in nursing education?
📚 Early cognitive psychologists thought of memory as a “library” - neatly organized memories stored away in an organized location. However, many studies have shown that this is not the case. We don’t create objective, definitive memories that can later be received verbatim (Weinstein, Sumeracki & Caviglioli, 2019).
Performers do use maintenance rehearsal, which includes repetition of their lines. However, a more effective tool for memorization is elaborative practice, which includes focusing on what the lines mean to the character, evoking feelings to accompany the memory, working off what their fellow performers are doing, and using props to set the memory in place.
Nursing students often default to maintenance rehearsal—repeating facts for exams without truly internalizing them. To help students retain and apply knowledge, educators can encourage elaborative rehearsal.
In this next series, we will explore three ways to use elaborative rehearsal with nursing students!
A movie camera with Practical Tool #1: Create a program patient
Practical Tool #1:
Create a Program Patient
Using a case study and clinical storytelling, present a scenario that relates new concepts students are learning (e.g., lab values or pathophysiology) to a patient with whom students may already be familiar.
Create a "program patient" with a detailed, evolving story that students follow throughout the nursing program. Provide a consistent medical history, medication list, and visual representation of the patient. This patient reappears in each course, with their condition progressing as students develop more advanced skills, creating a cohesive and engaging learning experience.
Sample Program Patient Layout
Fundamentals Course: Students meet Mr. Adams, a 55-year-old with asthma, during a clinic visit. They practice teaching inhaler use and lifestyle modifications.
Mental Health Course: Mr. Adams begins experiencing anxiety related to managing his chronic condition. Students explore therapeutic communication and interventions for anxiety.
Medical-Surgical Course: Mr. Adams is hospitalized with pneumonia. Students assess his respiratory status, implement oxygen therapy, develop care plans, and investigate antibiotic regimens.
Critical Care Course: In the final semester, Mr. Adams requires intubation due to acute respiratory failure. Students manage ventilator settings and prioritize advanced interventions in a high-acuity setting.
A program patient is an excellent use of elaborative rehearsal because students can connect their learning to a previous patient learning experience.
Another way to help students put their knowledge into practice is to use BreakoutRN’s new Pathway to Practice: Virtual Case Study Series. These interactive case studies will be available in January 2025, and your feedback as beta testers is crucial to their development. I am looking for beta testers and would greatly appreciate your involvement in this process!
If you currently have a need for either Labor Complications or CKD + Sepsis case study, click the button below and I will be in touch with instructions. I am asking that you have time to review or use the case study with students before January 15th.
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