Online teaching and learning: Experiences of students in a nursing college during the onset of COVID-19

Background: The world has entered the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Utilisation of technology is inevitable. For the past years, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has halted normal operations, including in the physical classroom for nursing students. Students and facilitators had to move to a remote way of teaching and learning, utilising online teaching and learning. However, students and facilitators were not ready to use online teaching and learning. This not only resulted in numerous challenges, but also became an eye-opener for best practices and intervening strategies. Objectives: To explore and describe experiences of students in a nursing college with regard to online teaching and learning during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was adopted. A purposive, nonprobability sampling approach was used to select participants from second year, third year and fourth year. First-year student nurses were excluded because they did not commence with classrooms at that time. Results: Seven themes emerged, namely knowledge, confidence, training, equipment, clinical exposure, course extension and flexibility, and all themes had subthemes. Conclusion: It is evident that students had more negative experiences during online teaching and learning than positive experiences.

The state of emergency medical technician education in Ghana

Objective: The National Ambulance Service (NAS) provides emergency medical services throughout Ghana and trains emergency medical technicians (EMTs) at the NAS Prehospital Emergency Care Training School (PECTS). Currently the majority of EMT training occurs primarily in a traditional didactic format. Students and faculty were interviewed to better understand their views of the current curriculum. Additionally, any barriers to integration of simulation-based learning were assessed. Following the interviews, the faculty was trained to conduct obstetric and neonatal simulations. The faculty was then observed introducing the simulations to the EMT students. Methods: A standardized list of questions developed in consultation with an education expert was used to elicit student and faculty expression of opinion. Interviews were conducted in-person in small group settings. Training sessions were conducted in-person in large group settings. Results: Students and faculty alike expressed pride in their work and 14/25 groups felt that teaching efforts were high. However, students verbalized concern involving their lack of rest (12/18) and the high volume of lectures per day (11/18). Both students and faculty felt limited by the lack of simulation tools (17/25), library resources (14/25), internet access (17/25), and infrastructure (20/25). All groups felt favorably towards the integration of simulation-based learning (25/25). Conclusion: The faculty and students of PECTS support the transition from a curriculum based on traditional didactic learning to one based on simulation learning

A model of collaboration for the implementation of problem-based learning in nursing education in South Africa

Background: The idea of collaboration between key stakeholders in nursing education for the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) may have far-reaching implications for the institutions and students.Main objective: To develop a model of collaboration to facilitate the implementation of PBL in nursing education.Methodology: An exploratory sequential design was used. Qualitative data were collected from purposively recruited nurse educators from three universities in South Africa offering PBL and nurse managers from all the three hospitals in North West Province where PBL students are placed for clinical learning. A questionnaire was used to obtain data from respondents who were conveniently recruited. Model development, concept analysis, construction of relationships, description and evaluation were followed.Results: This model has six elements: higher education and nursing education (context), institutions initiating PBL, clinical services, colleges affiliated to PBL universities, students and healthcare users (recipients), champions in PBL (agents), effective implementation of PBL (terminus), collaboration (process) and commitment, communication, trust and respect (dynamics).Conclusion: Collaboration in implementing PBL can be a functional reality in the delivery of quality educational experiences and has far-reaching implications for the institutions and students. The implementation of the model in South African nursing education institutions may be necessary for the light of the revision of the preregistration qualifications.Recommendations: Managerial commitment, training of collaborators on PBL and collaboration skills, memorandum of agreement, monitoring and evaluation are critical. More research is required to pilot the model and evaluate collaboration in implementing PBL at different levels of operations

Undergraduate emergency medicine in an african medical school : experiences from Botswana

Introduction: In August 2011; the first cohort of students at the University of Botswana School of Medicine (UBSOM) began their third year of undergraduate medical training. As part of their 2011-2012 curriculum they each completed a 10 week rotation in Emergency Medicine (EM); involving problem based learning (PBL) sessions; maintenance of log books; case presentations; and clinical time at the Emergency Centre (EC) of the main tertiary referral hospital in Gaborone; Princess Marina Hospital. Methods :Since EM rotations are often undertaken in the final year of medical training; students were given an anonymous voluntary survey to study the effect of an EM experience in their first clinical year of training. A 5-point Likert scale was used to evaluate learning opportunities and the overall EM experience. Students described which procedures they had observed or performed in their rotation. The survey concluded with open-ended questions seeking additional feedback. Results : These were very encouraging for both early exposure to EM and the PBL approach. More than 90 of students agreed or strongly agreed that they felt more confident in clinical settings; improved their clinical decision making process; and found the PBL model to be effective over the rotation. 22 different procedures were observed in the EC with 100 observing venesection and plaster applications. 14 different procedures were performed with 83 students performing venesection and over 65 performing chest compressions and venous cannulation. Discussion : It is hoped that this study will provide valuable practical information about undergraduate EM learning in a PBL based Medical School within Sub Saharan Africa that can be replicated across other medical education institutions throughout the region

Introduction of a blended teaching strategy in an Occupational Health Nursing Education programme

The purpose of this case study is to describe the use of a blended learning strategy to address some of the challenges experienced by adult nursing students in a specialised occupational health nursing course. These students are generally employed on a full-time basis and have a number of competing responsibilities that may impact on their studies. Blended learning using e-learning and face-to-face problem-based learning was identified as a useful educational strategy to address some of the challenges faced by these students in furthering their education. A blended learning strategy addresses the main assumptions of adult education; including self-directed learning; experience as a resource for learning; readiness to learn; problem-centred orientation with immediacy of application; and internal motivation. This educational strategy is recommended for adult learners and a formal evaluation of this blended learning method is planned

'Every Teacher is a Researcher!': Creating Indigenous Epistemologies and Practices for HIV Prevention through Values-Based Action Research

Since gender is an undisputed driver of HIV infection; teachers concerned with HIV prevention education should ideally encourage critical awareness of and culturally sensitive practices around gender inequalities. Many interventions and programmes have been developed for teachers to enable them to do this; however most have met with limited success. This article proceeds from the viewpoint that for HIV-prevention interventions to be sustainable and effective; teachers should be actively engaged in their design; implementation and evaluation. It outlines how teachers in an HIV prevention programme utilised an action research design to explore their own gender constructs as a necessary first step to the creation of more gender-sensitive school climates and teaching practices. This values-based self-enquiry moved the teachers to action on two levels: first; to adopt a more gendersensitive approach in their own personal and professional lives and second; to take action to challenge gender inequalities within their particular educational contexts. Evidence is presented to justify the claim that action research of this genre helps teachers to generate indigenous epistemologies and practices that not only are effective in creating sustainable and empowering learning environments for HIV prevention education; but also for teaching and learning in general

Learning Radiology in an Integrated Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Curriculum

Background: The Faculty of Medicine (FoM) has been training health professions in Uganda since 1924. Five years ago; it decided to change the undergraduate curriculum from traditional to Problem Based Learning (PBL) and adopted the SPICES model. Radiology was integrated into the different courses throughout the 5 year program. The objective was to improve the implementation of the integration of Radiology in the integrated PBL curriculum. Methods: This was a cross sectional descriptive study of radiologists and medical students using interviews and semi-structured questionnaires respectively. Results: Radiologists' and students' perceptions and opinions on Radiology training were gathered. A Radiology training rationale was developed. Learning outcomes for Radiology were defined and learning formats were chosen. Learning materials were identified and strategies to improve the implementation were formulated. Conclusions: This work has culminated into changes in Radiology integration in the curriculum and training at the FOM

Enhanced Dietary Awareness and Lifestyle Changes in First-Year Medical Students Following Exposure to Problem-Based Nutrition Education

Background: The ever-increasing prevalence of chronic lifestyle-associated diseases has resulted in greater awareness of the importance of preventative medicine and its incorporation as an integral component of modern undergraduate medical curricula. As excessive dietary intake and physical inactivity are widely acknowledged as leading risk factors for the onset of chronic lifestyle-associated diseases; the promotion of a healthy lifestyle is regarded as a priority for today's primary care physicians. For this reason; it was deemed appropriate by the designers of the problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum; which was introduced at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine in 2001; to include a six-week Nutrition theme early in the medical students' five-year curriculum. This study set out to determine the impact of this theme; which included a specific focus on the importance of nutrition in avoiding lifestyle-associated disorders; on the dietary awareness and lifestyle of the 2004 intake of medical students.Methods: First-year medical students (n = 213) spent the first six weeks of their curriculum (following an orientation period) engaged in a problem-based learning Nutrition theme; which included active; personalised learning experiences such as analysing their own dietary intakes and recording their personal anthropometric measures. They were questioned two weeks after conclusion of the theme regarding (i) the impact of the theme on their dietary awareness and lifestyles; (ii) whether they had; since the start of the theme; shared their newly acquired insights with others; and (iii) the extent to which they recalled their personal measured anthropometric data and calculated kilojoule (kJ) intakes derived during the practical sessions.Results: Nearly 84 of the students responded to the anonymous survey (n = 178). A greater awareness of their personal dietary intake following the completion of the Nutrition theme was acknowledged by 88.2( n = 157); while 65.1 (n = 116) reported improvements to their general lifestyle. Eighty-five percent reported having counselled family members and friends about diet and lifestyle-related issues in the eight-week period since the start of the theme. While recall of body mass indices was higher (p 0.01) in females (85.8) than in males (61.5 ); recall of daily kJ intakes was independent of gender. Unsolicited mention by the students surveyed in this study of components of the South African Food-based Guidelines and recent alternative food pyramids suggests that these models were recognised as health priority areas by this student cohort.Conclusion: The introduction of a Nutrition theme at the start of the problem-based medical learning curriculum appeared to have impacted significantly on the dietary awareness and lifestyles of the students surveyed; with a tendency among students to share this awareness with others. From the open-ended responses of the students; the findings of this study appear to confirm that medical students appreciated learning about their own health factors; and that personalising the information made the learning experience more valuable to them. Attitudinal changes and apparent internalisation of the newly acquired nutritional awareness were reflected by the high percentage of students who acknowledged that they had advised others within the two-week period following the completion of the theme. This augurs well for the potential preventative counselling practices of these future medical graduates. It will; however; be of interest to survey this student cohort longitudinally to establish whether their changed perceptions have a longer term impact and result in attitudes and practices that support preventative health care

Introducing HIV and AIDS Education into the First Year of a Problem-Based Learning Curriculum : A template for Health Science Education

The HIV and AIDS epidemic will continue to impact medically; socially and financially on sub-Saharan Africa. It is therefore imperative that health science students in Africa experience the reality of the impact of this virus on communities. This article describes an HIV and AIDS education programme instituted at a South African medical school in parallel with the first year of a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. In line with the PBL philosophy; the HIV and AIDS programme was largely experiential. Students interacted directly with HIV positive individuals; and through their educational workshops; with local communities. By means of small group sessions facilitated by trained community educators; students explored myths surrounding HIV and AIDS and engaged frankly with colleagues about sensitive issues such as having an HIV-infected family member. Although expensive in terms of human resources; the outcomes of this intervention exceeded the organisers' expectations; particularly in terms of students openly engaging with the reality of being HIV positive and the community organisation networks established. This type of experiential intervention with considerable community exposure has application to other health science curricula