Using concept maps in perioperative education

Critical thinking and clinical decision making are essential components of the knowledge and skills acquired in the perioperative education process. Although traditional didactic teaching methods remain predominant teaching strategies in perioperative nursing education, programs should include a variety of methods and tools to enhance learning of a considerable amount of complex material. Concept mapping is an active teaching strategy that can be used in nursing education to facilitate the development of critical thinking and decision-making skills. A concept map is a tool consisting of a main idea, subconcepts, and cross-links that organizes knowledge by showing relationships between concepts. Different types of maps can be used to present different types of learning material, depending on the focus of the lesson. Complex knowledge (eg, perioperative technology) can be better learned and retained when the brain works to organize information in a hierarchical framework and the information is built up with interacting concepts.