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Cross-department project benefits students

By Jacob Meyer managing Editor 3 min read

Dr. Sara Clutter, associate professor of nursing, believes the senior nursing students have a civic duty to help younger nursing students at Waynesburg.

This goal is being achieved through a 400-level, Evidence-Based Practice course, in which students have a specific project to create informational shadow boxes to assist the things sophomore nursing students will have to endure during clinicals.

“I think it’s a personal behavior that they need to learn how to help new nurses,” said Clutter. “Being able to teach them is an important part of that role, and for the university it is important for the seniors to assist the sophomores in that process.”

Clutter described clinicals as the students’ real-life practice in hospitals and long-term care facilities to gain hands-on experience with the concepts being taught in their classes.

The course is split up into two separate classes – one taught by Clutter – and has a total of 39 students. The students split up into seven groups of five students and one group of four students to create eight separate shadow boxes, which are located on the first and second floors of Stewart Science Hall.

Clutter thinks the senior nursing students did well in assisting their fellow sophomore nursing students.

“I think they’ve chosen really good topics for their sophomore peers,” said Clutter. “Obviously sophomores have entry-level clinical skills, so the sophomores had only been to clinicals one day. I think the seniors did a nice job picking topics that are appropriate for the [sophomores]. They did a great job trying to get that evidence to how the sophomores would understand.”

Senior nursing major Elise Kopas, who participated in creating a shadow box, knows first-hand the positive affect the shadow boxes have on sophomore nursing students.

“When I was a sophomore starting clinicals we were all scared to death, and we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into,” said Kopas. “The shadow boxes were really helpful because it’s a visual, 3-D and short to-the-point information.”

The group Kopas was in created a shadow box about blood transfusion, while other shadow boxes were on topics such as intravenous therapy and ways to prevent complications, preventing pulmonary complications and end-of-life care.

To convey the information in the best way possible for the sophomore nursing students, the senior nursing majors teamed up with design students in a design club called AIGA.

Clutter said interprofessional communications is a standard of accreditation for the nursing program.

“Interprofessional communication is important for patient safety because if all the members of the healthcare team aren’t working together with one another, patient safety is in jeopardy,” said Clutter. “Since we don’t have medical students, social work students or respiratory therapy students, we had to find a creative way to have our students learn that interprofessional communication. Basically, that’s getting your point of view across to someone who doesn’t have your background.”

Kopas said the design consultants from AIGA assisted the nursing students convey their message onto the shadow boxes.

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