A new module in caring for older adults: problem-based learning and practice portfolios

It is not often that educators have the chance to design a new educational program on the basis of up-to-date and locally relevant research findings. We describe the process by which we designed a new module, aimed at registered nurses who care for older adults in the community. The content of the new module was derived from an analysis of educational needs of the potential student population. The mode of delivery was strongly student-centered, using problem-based learning. Assessment was through the building up by students of a practice portfolio. This paper focuses on a description of the new module and how it relates to the findings of the educational needs analysis. The National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland put out a tender in 1995 for a community research project on "Educational Provision for Evolving Roles in Community Health Care" (Nursing Times, June, 9, 1995) with the aim of piloting and evaluating an "innovative program which meets changing needs in community health care." A joint bid by Napier University and the University of Glasgow not only proposed to pilot and evaluate the educational program, but also first to develop the content of the program itself through an educational needs analysis. In this paper, we will first provide an outline of the research that underpinned the educational program. Then, we will describe how the results of the needs analysis were implemented into an innovative educational module. Finally, we will give a brief summary of the new module.