Educate, Excite, Engage
Students, take out your phones

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Nurses' Pick

This first activity is an encouragement to students to use their clinical imagination (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2010). They are challenged to use their phones to find an application (app) in the app store that they can use to address client needs. Have them search individually for a few minutes. Then, pair with a partner and finally choose one or two students to share with the large group. Ask that they provide professional critique of the app as a means of helping them develop habits

Clinical Activities in Class

Anytime faculty can demonstrate a connection between clinical/laboratory/simulation and the classroom, learning can be enhanced for the students. Faculty will do well to find clinical tools that they can use in the classroom. To make this happen, consult the clinical laboratory team and see what tools are used in the way of technology in the laboratory. Some laboratories will use an electronic health record (EHR) that students can access during class. Others use the drug guide on their phone,

Phone-Based Games in Class

Gaming and gamification have long been acknowledged as an effective strategy for learning. The engagement and positive effect of “fun” are all useful in helping students refocus on the content and concepts being addressed.

One quick and easy tool to use is Kahoot (create.kahoot.it). This tool allows the students on their phone to respond to an interactive game experience on the front screen in the classroom or on their own personal screen if the class is live online. Questions can include images

Clinical Picture Taking

Photography in health care is important on so many levels. The pictures can augment documentation of a client situation when compared with just a verbal or written explanation (Wound Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society, 2012). Students need to begin using their clinical imagination to better understand how strategies like photography improve health care.

First and most important, help students understand the ramifications of professionalism and protecting patient privacy. They need to learn the

Quick Quiz on the Phone

So many times, students do not use their resources because they do not see faculty role modeling or using them. One way to do this is for faculty to have students use these apps in class. Have students load their favorite quizzing app, such as an National Council Licensure Examination questions program, on their phone. They then stand and find a peer, and then, the two of them should work through five questions.

If everyone is using the same quizzing app and the same set of questions, you can

Virtual Online Handoff Report

Students need extensive practice in developing, delivering, and critiquing the handoff report. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (2016) lists this activity statement as a part of management of care “Provide and receive hand of care report on assigned clients (e.g., standardized hand off communication)” (p. 10). Handoff is a vital skill that requires significant synthesis and overall higher order thinking for the student and nurse. It is an opportunity for students to grow.

After

Conclusion

The use of phones during class can help the nursing student begin to truly own the concepts to be learned. Consider ways to partner with students to engage them and point them toward professionalism in the 21st century. Begin with “Students, please take out your phones.”

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