Engage nursing students in role-play scenarios customized for the current class topic. The nursing curriculum features classes such as diagnostic and comprehensive health assessment, care in illness and community health. Have students pair off into partners and assign each person, for example, an illness with a list of symptoms. The students will alternate as to who plays the patient and who plays the nurse in the role-play scenarios, allowing each to have a chance at both. Have the nursing students assess the patients and make diagnostic, treatment and general practice decisions. Evaulate the students on their decisions and offer guidance and correction when necessary. This is best for an introductory-level course and as valuable practice prior to clinical placements.
Provide nursing students with placements in settings such as hospitals, public schools and mental health institutionss. Through placements in facilities such as these, students will be able to practice the skills they are learning in their degree program, such as patient care, clinical skills and decision-making skills. This will help them build a foundation of hands-on clinical experience and a more in-depth understanding of the occupation of nursing that will benefit them in the workplace.
Organize and hold a series of seminars on nursing specialities. Invite guest speakers, such as those with significant experience in the field themselves, to discuss specialties such as trauma, transport, critical care, hospice, perioperative, radiology, transplant, psychiatric-health, oncology and cardiovascular. Informative, engaging seminars will provide students with a higher level of knowledge concerning their field of work and perhaps prompt some individuals to choose a specific nursing specialty they previously knew little about. Additional educational nursing seminar ideas include question and answer periods regarding higher-education programs, such as Master's degrees, and interactive seminars for learning about and practicing certain clinical skills.
Another engaging idea to educate those enrolled in nursing programs is encouraging students to become involved in the community. In addition to, or in the years previous to, clinical placements, have students choose an institution or facility in which to volunteer. Students will need to decide on, and seek out, the nursing volunteer experience they desire. Students interested in neonatal nursing may choose to volunteer at a birthing center or the neonatal unit of a hospital. This exercise will foster independence while also helping students to decide on a specialty, or decide that the path they previously singled out is not for them. Follow up the community volunteering assignment with a written report of the experience or perhaps a classroom group discussion.