Using gaming workshops to prepare nursing students for caring for older people in clinical practice

Older people are the least satisfied with the care they receive when they are acutely ill. Furthermore, within nurse education, nursing older people has been submerged rather than embedded in the acute focus of nursing curricula. Lecturers designed a 1-day gaming workshop to stimulate interest in nursing older people.

To explore the influence of gaming workshops on undergraduate nursing students' learning about nursing older people.

Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. A survey questionnaire was distributed pre- and postgaming workshops to a cohort of second year nursing students (n=100, 86% response rate). Students (n=9) were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview on completion of their placement.

Responses were significantly more positive for the questionnaire postworkshop when compared with the responses of preworkshop. Five themes were identified from the interviews, they included teacher interaction; level of student engagement with the topic; the effect of the teaching method; influence of the workshops on practice; working with older people.

Nursing students preferred this novel teaching method to lectures. They learned about appropriate and relevant care of older people, however, they seem to struggle to apply concepts related to caring for older people in the acute settings.