BSN Mental Health Nursing Students: Teaching the Community
Author: Dawana Gibbs, MSN, RN, CNE
Abstract:
Service-learning in the mental health nursing course in the BSN curriculum was designed to reinforce course outcomes. Based on the educational theory that supports the idea of learning by teaching, groups of students partnered with three agencies with the task of developing and delivering a method of teaching health care providers (and in one case, patients/families) in a non-psychiatric setting about mental health related issues. One example is the group that is teaching Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) basic therapeutic communication skills to manage challenging situations. Another group is teaching CNAs and other health care personnel how to identify and differentiate warning signs for clients who have dementia, delirium, and/or depression. Each group has its own specific topic that is identified through collaboration with the community partner, the students, and faculty. Students are reinforcing their own learning by teaching what they have learned to others.
