Module 4: Teaching with Technology: Sign of the Times

I walked down the concrete steps of my college Alma Mater over 30 years ago, excited to embark on a career that took me 5 years to complete because it was a BSN program. I was immersed in real patient care, community health experiences and lectures as a teaching strategy where I must have dozed in-between due to the lengthiness that somehow cradled my fatigue due to bus rides. Over the years I find that concepts that I learned have come in handily and I am grateful to my teachers who, despite the absence of computers and other technological gadgets so common now, have tried to teach us to the best of their abilities.

Fast forwarding to my current situation   as a professional nurse, I believe that teaching is as much a vital component of my role  as my skills. I manage a residential treatment facility's Infection Prevention and Control Program and because our focus is on prevention and wellness, teaching is a crucial component of our program. I deal with both the staff (approximately 350) and the student (numbering around 150) populations because these are the two sectors that comprise our school community.  Because our goal is to reduce the risks of acquiring and transmitting infection in our facility, education of both sectors in carrying out our Infection Control bundle of health practices  is a MUST. I enjoy my role of a teacher as I plan the format of my staff in-services and utilize ways to facilitate learning of the concepts needed to be taught. My teaching occurs in a group setting as well as on a one-on-one situation especially during my immunization clinics. In fact I jump-started my annual flu vaccine campaign two weeks ago with the skill I've learned in my Nursing 6010.  I constructed a creative, eye-catching, colorful and fun powerpoint presentation about influenza and the importance of vaccination and non-pharmaceutical interventions. It was meant for our adolescent audience whose ages range from 12-18 years old whose level of knowledge about proper health practices is quite inadequate. I promoted active learning through questions-and-answers with their favorite 'cool' Ticonderoga pencils as perks. Based on audience participation and feedbacks, this was a positive learning experience for them.  I also developed an Infection Prevention and Control educational checklist for each student where different topics needed to be addressed are discussed by either me or the nursing case manager and checked off when done. I did this instead of a plain lecture of the 'do's-and-don'ts' of infection control which will definitely bore my adolescent audience. Before I vaccinate a student, I do a mini teaching of what immunization does in a simple and understandable way- i.e. the virus in this solution is killed, will not hurt you and in the next several days, it will trigger your body to react to it and build its own soldier cells to fight it, so that when the real virus comes along, your body is already prepared to deal with it.'  I believe that teaching them about the importance of vaccination prior to the actual procedure not only allays their fear but helps them integrate wellness measures as a life skill. The use of powerpoint in my in-service has definitely enhanced my teaching role to our adolescents, a technology that is way notches above the projector we used over 30 years ago which  necessitated adjustments and didn't have color at all!

I really enjoy the teaching component of my professional role. I believe that THERE IS NO nursing/health care provider role that does not involve teaching in one way or another because it is an inherent component involved in a patient-nurse relationship. Teaching is involved every step of the way as we take care of our patient- from the basic and simple teaching of  the what's, why's, when's and how's of his  medication to what the cardiac monitor does and why he's attached to it or to plainly just holding his hand as we support him through his pain- these are all teaching moments that tell him that we value him and we want to help him. With breakthroughs in technology that can be utilized in teaching us, students, patients and our colleagues, the teaching component of our nursing role is inevitably enhanced and made more effective.

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