Wednesday, February 11, 2009

How to Teach, What to Teach



What I have been doing, besides more and futher iterations of my first three chapters, has been some teaching and presenting. I am the TA in one of the core courses in the undergrad nursing program. The course I am working with is called “Chronic Illness II and End of Life.” I’ve done a couple of presentations, have contributed comments as part of the team of teachers (there are 2 peds, 2 gero, and 2 psych faculty who share didactic and clinical duties), and will be grading a major paper.

It’s being great, and I’m learning a lot in a mentored environment. It also reinforces my belief that I will enjoy teaching (although you are welcome to check back with me in a year or so when I’m doing it on my own).



The other exciting teacher-related activity is that I have been asked to write part of the curriculum for a course: this course is a summer intensive for AP nurses that will give them a certificate in geriatrics. There are few GNP programs anymore, and this was seen as a way of providing gero content and training to individual who have (or are getting their FNP or ANP.

I’ve been asked to do a module on end-of-life care. The idea is to give some background, some reading material, and a couple of different activities to choose from, including, possibly a case study.
I am going through my major palliative care text books, and the ELNEC gero curriculum. One possible activity is to have them do an advance care planning session with a client (the whole “what is your understanding of your current health situation, what is your functional level, what are your goals, what are your values, what are your resources, etc.”)
My question, if there is anyone still out there reading this who has an end-of-life framework is: if you had to create a module on end-of-life care for advance practice nurses, that shouldn’t take more than a few hours to complete, would you include?

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