The Use of Structured, Active, In-Person Learning to Connect Didactic Content with Clinical Scenarios in a Senior...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Leadership Development
• Clinical Simulation

Background:

• University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing's senior leadership course integrates didactic and clinical learning.
• Didactic content covers leadership principles, while clinical rotations expose students to complex patient care scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of Structured, Active, In-class Learning (SAIL) activities in a nursing leadership course.
• To enhance the connection between theoretical knowledge and practical clinical experiences for nursing students.

Main Methods:

• Implemented SAIL activities, including think-pair-share, to connect didactic leadership topics with clinical scenarios.
• Utilized specialty-related clinical scenarios for small group discussions and whole-group sharing.

Main Results:

• Student evaluations showed a semester-over-semester increase in 'excellent' ratings for SAIL sessions.
• Feedback was consistently positive, with a noted area for improvement being session timing.

Conclusions:

• Shifting simulation scenarios to SAIL fostered dialectically rich discussions on clinical situations.
• SAIL effectively maintained the crucial link between nursing leadership theory and practice.