Tailoring a diabetes nursing elective course to millennial students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Education
• Diabetes Management

Background:

• Millennial college students are active learners, posing challenges for traditional classroom teaching.
• Interactive and collaborative methods may enhance learning for this demographic.
• Diabetes self-management education requires effective patient-centered approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative teaching method using Diabetes Conversation Maps for college students.
• To assess the impact of role-playing a patient with diabetes on student knowledge and satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• An elective course incorporated Diabetes Conversation Maps, a patient self-management tool.
• Students role-played individuals diagnosed with diabetes, considering demographic and clinical factors.
• Knowledge was assessed using a pretest-posttest format with a modified Brief Diabetes Knowledge Test.

Main Results:

• The innovative teaching method significantly increased students' knowledge of diabetes.
• Students demonstrated improved understanding of patient education techniques.
• High levels of student satisfaction were reported with the new teaching approach.

Conclusions:

• Interactive, role-playing exercises using tools like Diabetes Conversation Maps are effective for teaching diabetes management and patient education.
• This approach enhances knowledge and engagement among millennial learners.
• The findings support the integration of innovative, patient-centered tools in medical education.