Teaching Pediatric Nursing Concepts to Non-Pediatric Nurses Using an Advance Organizer

Julie Ann Bell, Gardner-Webb University

Abstract

Non-pediatric nurses in rural areas often care for children in adult units, emergency departments, and procedural areas. A half-day program about pediatric nursing using constructivist teaching strategies including an advance organizer, case studies, and simulation was offered at a community hospital in Western North Carolina. Nurses reported a significant increase in self-reported knowledge, skill, and comfort from before to after the program. There was a slight, but insignificant, increase in the number of nursing considerations identified in a case study. Participants and instructors evaluated the simulation activity as an effective way to teach skills and critical thinking.