Cooperation is might the key of your success

Cooperative Learning
Activities for Nursing Students

   Role-Playing Activities

1. • Role playing is a useful exercise for nursing students. One student plays the patient, whose situation varies depending on the class and the type of patient care being discussed, and other students play the role of the nurses. The patient gives complaints or acts appropriately according to the role; the students work together to provide the best care. For example, one student might put cold compresses on the patient's head to bring down a fever while another hooks up the IV. The students learn to work as a team for efficiency and to work around each other.

   Group Projects

   • Teachers can assign the nursing students group projects relating to the field of study. Group projects are often used to help students develop cooperative skills. The students are divided into groups and receive specific instructions on the project and the elements of how the group should work together.

   Practice Nursing Skills

   
   
   • Nurses must meet specific standards for skills, such as taking blood pressure and using needles. The nurses can practice on each other or simulate practice on each other as a cooperative activity. Students should break into groups of two or three for best results in training. They then alternate skills such as taking blood pressure and pulse.

   Listing Activities

   • Listing activities break the students into groups. The groups discuss a specific aspect of nursing, such as emergency care or pediatric care, and then list important items relating to the topic. The students work out the list as a group and prioritize items. For example, limit the list to the five most important points on the topic and then have the students work together to determine what they feel is the most important.
     

     Nurses often end up working cooperatively to take care of patients. It's important for nursing students to learn cooperative activities and strategies before leaving nursing school so they are ready to provide the best possible patient care. Cooperative learning is working together to reach a common goal, a skill that's vital to a nurse.