Nursing Practicum Lesson Plan

In higher education institutions, various teaching methods are employed. The first and the most important step in ensuring a successful teaching and learning is development of an effective lesson plan. Bidabadi et al. (2016) defines a lesson plan as a roadmap to guide teaching. In the higher education institutions, a lesson plan enables students develop an in depth comprehension of the concepts related to their courses. Concerning the topic of choice, management of Diabetes Mellitus (DM), a good lesson plan is required to enable nursing students improve their knowledge and skills on practice. The purpose of this writing is to develop a lesson plan for nursing students regarding management of DM. The lesson plan includes description of the practicum setting and the population, lesson outcomes, teaching strategies, learning styles and the outline of content. Nursing Practicum Lesson Plan

Setting and Population

The setting is within a higher education institution, a nursing college where training of health workers occurs. Within the school, the students traverse from classwork to hospital setup where they do their practical work. The classwork solely involves theory where students acquire knowledge on various nursing subjects. In the hospital setting, the students learn skills on management of various patients. The students interact with patients with various health conditions; this enables them to acquire skills in diverse areas of practice. The population of interest is the nursing students particularly the sophomores. The students pursue Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) within duration of four years. The students come from various ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Lesson Outcomes with Rationales and Alignment

During teaching, students are required to achieve a certain level of comprehension and skills of practice. In the topic chosen, learning outcomes includes acquisition of knowledge and comprehension of concepts in DM management. An additional learning outcome includes acquisition of skills and their application in the clinical practice. The knowledge to be acquired covers areas such as types and etiologies of DM. Further, knowledge on the diagnosis, risk factors, complications and management of DM is essential.

Nursing concepts keep on changing therefore, a constant update on the knowledge is vital for practice (Solis-Herrera et al., 2018 Nursing Practicum Lesson Plan). For example, classification and diagnostic criteria experienced tremendous changes until the latest American Diabetes Association algorithm which integrates fasting glucose level, random glucose levels, oral glucose tolerance test and the hemoglobin A1C (Solis-Herrera et al., 2018). Moreover, skills on management of DM are crucial to avoid adverse complications such as diabetic retinopathies and neuropathies.

Teaching Strategies with Rationale

Teaching in higher education institutions requires responsibilities on both ends of the students and the educators. Therefore, the teaching method used is a mixed approach, both student-centered and teacher-centered (Bidabadi et al., 2016). Student –centered learning strategy aims to give the students more control of their education. Literature provides robust evidence that student-centered learning is one of the most effective pedagogic techniques of training health workers (Bidabadi et al., 2016 Nursing Practicum Lesson Plan). In this case, students use a problem to learn and the teacher only acts as a moderator. Contrarily, teacher-centered techniques include methods such as delivery of didactive lectures. In this case, the nurse educators disseminate the information unilaterally.

Even though it is not as effective as student-centered techniques, it is one of the commonly used teaching strategies in nursing schools. Since nursing is a practical course, learning by demonstration is crucial. To learn the psychomotor skills in nursing such as injection of insulin, measuring blood glucose levels and peripheral IV access, demonstration is mandatory (Santiago, Vorasiha & Kittichottipanich, 2020 Nursing Practicum Lesson Plan). Sometimes, the procedures are constantly repeated to enable students internalize the concepts. Moreover, learning through case studies is not uncommon in nursing schools. A case study teaches about clinical conditions, competence and communication skills.

Learning Styles

Every student has a learning preference. Among the various styles of learning, some students learn by doing, others by seeing, and some by asking while others by reading (Santiago et al., 2020). Delivery of lecture leverages technology, videos, graphics and various interactive software applications. Therefore, visual learners gain much during lecture presentation. Further, aural learners have good listening skills therefore learn best via verbal presentation during lectures (Santiago et al., 2020). A different category involves those who learn by doing. This group prefers demonstration as the best method for learning to other learning techniques.

For example, during practical sessions in the hospitals, nursing students are taught clinical skills such as phlebotomy and peripheral IV access through demonstration. Through repeated demonstration of the skills, they master the concepts. Finally, a case study befits students who are logical learners. This category of students learns by reasoning and solving problems (Santiago et al., 2020 Nursing Practicum Lesson Plan). The problems presented via case studies therefore stimulate their intellect and enable them to think logically to provide a cogent solution.

Content Outline

The topic of study is management of Diabetes Mellitus. The content outline is as follows: introduction including the definition of DM, various types and the etiology, clinical presentation and the diagnostic criteria by American Diabetes Association. The updated knowledge on diagnostic algorithm is crucial following the constant change of the diagnostic approach. The second outline includes prevention of DM, both primary and secondary strategies. Following the high prevalence of DM, and the associated morbidity and economic burden, health care providers and the public must be aware of the prevention strategies (American Diabetes Association, 2019 Nursing Practicum Lesson Plan).

The third outline includes management of DM, associated comorbidities and complications. The goal of management is to improve the quality of life of diabetic patients, and to prevent complications (American Diabetes Association, 2019). Additional content outline includes management of DM in special populations such as pregnancy and HIV patients. This knowledge is crucial in prevention of worse DM outcomes in such vulnerable populations.

Conclusion

A lesson plan is a roadmap to guide teaching in various levels of education. In higher education institutions, it is equally significant as it enable learners acquire a deeper level of understanding. Nursing students require an effective lesson plan to help them acquire knowledge and skills in management of patient, for example, diabetic clients. Various teaching strategies exist. In nursing, student-centered and demonstrations have been shown to be highly effective. The teaching strategies are in congruent with various learning skills for example, those who learn by doing gain more through demonstration of the clinical skills. Even though every student has a preference for a specific learning style, learning psychomotor skills in nursing is best achieved by demonstrations.