Hands On Learning

Friday afternoon was my last lesson. It's hard to believe that the course is already over – the students were not given enough time to digest the material or study as they went. But they were off to clinical practice this week, so there was really no choice. There is a large focus on what the nurse DOES here. In my program, the focus was on theory, assuming that skills could be picked up during employment. One of my professors even said “monkeys can learn how to put in a catheter”. However, here, the students want to practice each element of theory; they want to practice how to take care of a patient with increased intracranial pressure, practice how to assess someone using the Glasgow Coma Scale, and yes, even practice how to teach people to use condoms.

This gave me a lot of anxiety. I was told that it was my responsibility to incorporate the practical part of the course, and that I could book the skills lab upstairs. The procedures here are very intracit, and I read about how finicky they can be while I was editing the english skills guide (over 300 pages of changing jewls into jewelery and intimacy into privacy). I've never even irrigated a real ear myself, let alone used a whole sterile trolley to do it! I thought there was no way I could pull this stunt off. Teaching proper nursing technique, which would be tested later by different instructors, was not something I could fake. The skills lab itself is well equipped with the most random things, including an ECG machine (that they want me to figure out how to use) and all sorts of manequins, but is lacking in basic supplies for the students to use in practice.

Thankfully Yvonne, a clinical instructor here, volunteered to help me out. On Friday afternoon we assembled in the skills lab for the demonstrations, and I was equipped with the “do's and don'ts” articles from my own nursing courses. Yvonne was going to demonstrate assisting with lumbar punctures (complete with the whole sterile tray, none of which was familiar to the disposible ones I'm used to) along with ear irrigation. That left me eye drops, ear drops, and how to teach youth how to use condoms, as part of our case study on HIV/AIDS, specially requested by the students.

And, after all that stress, it went great! I did it! I remembered how to do the skills properly (just like riding a bike?) and included the theory in with the demonstration. The best part of my entire week was putting a condom on a wooden black (of course) penis, much to the amusment of my students. I wasn't showing them how to do it, really, because a lot of them have had a lot of education themselves in school. It was more so about how to be a good teacher when it comes to public education on safer sex, and how you have to be comfortable with sexuality to talk about it. We talked about myths that they have heard (such as two condoms is better than one) and how to answer awkward, culturally or religiously sensitve questions that might come up. It was a frank and honest discussion, followed by sympathy for the penis when it was dropped on the floor.

The course evaluations came in that day, too. Today I entered the responses into a flow sheet for recommendations to the department, mainly about the need for adequate resources and time for the students. I felt fantastic when I read that “the lecturer was kind, intelligent, and a very good teacher. I hope she comes back again”. Knowing that I actually did make a contribution felt wonderful, and such a relief. Best of all, is that I felt like a real teacher. Haha, fooled them!