Authors

  1. Byrne, Deborah PhD, RN, CNE
  2. Overbaugh, Kristen PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, CHPN
  3. Matecki, Dolores EdD, RN

Article Content

Nurse educators face unique challenges in preparing learning activities that bridge the gap between classroom learning and application in practice for beginning level nursing students who do not have the benefit of previous clinical experience. Nursing faculty developed an innovative learning activity combining a lecture on the nursing process, an episode of a documentary entitled My 600 lb. Life on TLC (Nowzardan, 2016),1 and completion of a concept map. This documentary illustrates the barriers to weight loss and the physical, psychological, and emotional effects of obesity and provided the students a simulated clinical experience. Students were introduced to the nursing process in the lecture and then given a worksheet to fill in parts of the nursing process while watching the episode. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and reflect on the health and behaviors of the client and family with faculty and then developed a concept map. Subsequently, in a survey, students indicated the activity positively impacted their ability to learn the nursing process and concept mapping and to better understand the struggles of someone who is obese. As we prepare prelicensure students to become competent in clinical judgment and clinical reasoning, it is important to build a foundation to support the development of these higher-level concepts.

 

Reference

 

1. Nowzardan J. (Producer). My 600 lb. Life, TLC. [Context Link]