Level of Instruction
This program is placed at the beginning of the curriculum and is intended for freshmen students to familiarize them with the basics of nursing ethics.
Method of Presentation Delivery
A standard presentation created in Microsoft PowerPoint will be used for teaching since this form is familiar and comfortable for most students.
Learning Objectives
Within the framework of this course, four main goals are put forward. First, students should comprehend what nursing is from professional perspective and what set of skills is required for them. Secondly, students should get a full understanding of the essence of ethics as a concept and its relationship with the healthcare sector. The third objective of this course is to gain information regarding the relationship between the ethical behavior of a nurse and communication at different levels: from patients to colleagues. The course’s final task is to define and explain the clear ethical and professional boundaries of the nurse.
Content Outline
This teaching plan is made considering the learning objectives described above. Due to this, the course content can be divided into four main parts. First, students receive information about what nursing is as a profession. One of the central points in this context is the emphasis on the holistic nature of this career, which includes a wide range of skills (Yoost & Crawford, 2021). At this stage, students are not required to learn these skills; however, they go through a process of familiarization with them.
The second part clarifies the fundamental concepts of ethics, beliefs, and values, classifying them and demonstrating their differences. At this stage, students are required to develop the skill to distinguish between these ideas and independently classify their worldviews. In addition, it is essential to highlight prevailing concepts within healthcare, such as the Code of Ethics (Yoost & Crawford, 2021). The third part of the material expands the concepts of ethical activity and considers them in the context of communication with other subjects in the healthcare sector. This section provides information on both communication with colleagues and professional ethics, as well as fundamental knowledge regarding patient interaction, including therapeutic communication (Yoost & Crawford, 2021). Students are encouraged to put the strategies they have learned into practice. Finally, a more detailed analysis of the studied topics is carried out, bringing them as close as possible to nursing practice. In this context, specific theories are analyzed and cases are investigated from the perspective of ethical and professional principles. Thus, the final part sums up all the material studied and combines it for better assimilation.
Teaching Strategies and Learning Activities
Several basic strategies will be used to convey material to students. Lectures will be the primary teaching method, as they are the most traditional way of the material presentation. Given that students are at the freshman level, the structure and integrity of this approach are a significant advantage, as it reduces the level of confusion (Kelly, 2019). In addition, lectures can be recorded in text or video format and made available to the public, allowing students to review the material again if necessary (Kelly, 2019). However, a significant drawback of this method is its dependence on the teacher and the lack of engagement on the part of students.
To compensate for this shortcoming, group discussions will be used to engage students in the learning process. Since most of the material is related to issues of ethics and communication, direct conversation with them is crucial. In this context, the interactivity and involvement of students in the general discussion is a significant advantage (Benlulu, 2022). However, this format requires considerable preparation by the teacher, as the discussion is much more difficult to control. Finally, case studies will be used to hone the acquired skills. Although they are not perfect due to the distance between real cases and simulated processes, in this context the level of generalization available is quite acceptable (“Limitations of using case study,” n.d.). A much more important advantage is the ability to demonstrate the studied issues in practice.
Plans for Individual Learning Differences
For the information on this course to be most effectively conveyed to all students, it is planned to adapt teaching approaches. First, the material will be presented in different forms so that everyone can access it most conveniently. For example, lectures will also be available in pre-recorded video and text formats. In addition, they will be accompanied by presentations that will include all the main points. Thus, the same information will exist in various forms, which addresses different individual needs associated with the impaired perception of a specific information type.
In addition, during the discussions, the teacher, acting as an intermediary, will observe the process and try to interact with the audience in a comfortable way. Finally, the study of learning differences for adaptation will be carried out by analyzing the work performed by students and the questionnaires they fill out (Kubat, 2018). The latter method will allow teacher to get the most direct feedback regarding the preferences and needs of students.
Evaluation Process
To assess the level of preparedness of students, the following methods will be used. As formative strategies, discussions on the studied material, simulation games that play out situations with nursing ethics, and questionnaires covering critical points from the lectures will be introduced. In the context of the latter, questions at the beginning and end of classes are especially important, allowing assessing what students remembered (Thomas, 2019). Presentations on the studied material, as well as written assignments, will be used as summative assessments.
One of these tasks will be a case study analysis, enabling students to demonstrate their skills and knowledge of nursing ethics and communication material. As part of this assignment, students will be presented with a situation involving an ethical dilemma. Students will have to analyze the given situation, identify the problem, and provide ways to solve it, supporting their arguments through scholarly sources. The rubric below will be used to evaluate their progress (see Table 1). For each of the designated evaluation criteria, students can earn a certain number of points, meeting the quality conditions in the form of a designated scale. The total maximum score for the task is 100 points.
Table 1. Case Study Analysis Rubric
References
Benlulu, R. (2022). Pros and cons of classroom group discussions. Owlcation. Web.
Kelly, M. (2019). Advantages and disadvantages of lecturing. ThoughtCo. Web.
Kubat, U. (2018). Identifying the individual differences among students during learning and teaching process by science teachers. International Journal of Research in Education and Science, 4(1), 30-38. Web.
Limitations of using case study as a teaching tool in higher education. (n.d.). Transcontinental University. Web.
Thomas, L. (2019). 7 smart, fast ways to do formative assessment. Edutopia. Web.
Yoost, B. L., & Crawford, L. R. (2021). Fundamentals of nursing: Active learning for collaborative practice (3rd ed.). Elsevier.