Reading Ella: Using Literary Patients to Enhance Nursing Students’ Reflective Thinking in the Classroom
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Shawn Pohlman
Abstract
This action research study was designed to explore, in-depth, how 70 senior nursing students experienced an assignment that involved reading and reflecting on a short story, Ella, and the educator’s experience during the process. Four sources of data were collected: student reflections, field notes, a classroom process recording by an expert educator/observer, and a focus group interview. Four themes emerged: (1) student reflections revealed their inner, often hidden landscapes; (2) Ella prompted clarification of the past and/or triggered future projective thinking; (3) Ella clarified difficult-to-teach concepts; and (4) the interface between students’ thoughts and teacher responses provided a platform of connectivity. I propose that reading well-written stories may enhance students’ clinical reasoning skills and ethical comportment within the confines of a classroom. In addition, when students are introduced to literary patients like Ella, they can dwell with the characters at a more peaceful pace which, in itself, may encourage reflectivity.
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©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin / Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Canadian Schools of Nursing: A Mixed Methods Study
- Education Reforms in Nigeria: How Responsive is the Nursing Profession?
- Writing History: Case Study of the University of Victoria School of Nursing
- Fear and Loathing: Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Experiences of a Mandatory Course in Applied Statistics
- How does the Nurse Educator Measure Caring?
- Psychometric Properties of the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric
- Arts-Based Learning: Analysis of the Concept for Nursing Education
- Critical Service Learning in Community Health Nursing: Enhancing Access to Cardiac Health Screening
- Collaborative Learning Using Nursing Student Dyads in the Clinical Setting
- The Effect of Social Contingencies on Nursing Students’ Reactions During a Rural Clinical Placement
- Voices of Innovation: Building a Model for Curriculum Transformation
- Bridging the Gap: Clinical Practice Nursing and the Effect of Role Strain on Successful Role Transition and Intent to Stay in Academia
- Resisting, Reaching Out and Re-imagining to Independence: LPN’s Transitioning towards BNs and Beyond
- Exploring the Issue of Failure to Fail in a Nursing Program
- Inclusive Mosaic: Promoting Diversity in Nursing through Youth Mentorship
- Interactive Learning Research: Application of Cognitive Load Theory to Nursing Education
- The Relevance of Indigenous Knowledge for Nursing Curriculum
- The Value of Community-Focused Interprofessional Care in Peru for Developing Cultural Competency in Health Professions Students
- Female Arab-Muslim Nursing Students’ Reentry Transitions
- High Fidelity Simulation Effectiveness in Nursing Students’ Transfer of Learning
- Communities of Practice in Nursing Academia: A Growing Need to Practice What We Teach
- Nurse Educators’ Perspectives on Student Development of Reflection for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Practice
- The Emerging Doctor of Education (EdD) in Instructional Leadership for Nurse Educators
- Five Years Later: Are Accelerated, Second-Degree Program Graduates Still in the Workforce?
- Knowledge and Perceptions of HIV/AIDS among Cameroonian Nursing Students
- Educating Nurses for the Twenty-First Century Abilities-Based Outcomes and Assessing Student Learning in the Context of Democratic Professionalism
- In Real Time: Exploring Nursing Students’ Learning during an International Experience
- Educating DNP Students about Critical Appraisal and Knowledge Translation
- 5-Years Later – Have Faculty Integrated Medical Genetics into Nurse Practitioner Curriculum?
- Stress, Depression, and Anxiety among Undergraduate Nursing Students
- Knowing Self and Caring Through Service Learning
- Teaching Experiences of Second Degree Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Faculty
- Reading Ella: Using Literary Patients to Enhance Nursing Students’ Reflective Thinking in the Classroom
- Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Students Use of Emotional Intelligence in Nursing as “Caring for a Human Being”: A Mixed Methods Grounded Theory Study
- Effective Classroom Teaching Methods: A Critical Incident Technique from Millennial Nursing Students’ Perspective
- Simulation Education Approaches to Enhance Collaborative Healthcare: A Best Practices Review
- Erratum to 5-Years Later – Have Faculty Integrated Medical Genetics into Nurse Practitioner Curriculum?
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety in Canadian Schools of Nursing: A Mixed Methods Study
- Education Reforms in Nigeria: How Responsive is the Nursing Profession?
- Writing History: Case Study of the University of Victoria School of Nursing
- Fear and Loathing: Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Experiences of a Mandatory Course in Applied Statistics
- How does the Nurse Educator Measure Caring?
- Psychometric Properties of the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric
- Arts-Based Learning: Analysis of the Concept for Nursing Education
- Critical Service Learning in Community Health Nursing: Enhancing Access to Cardiac Health Screening
- Collaborative Learning Using Nursing Student Dyads in the Clinical Setting
- The Effect of Social Contingencies on Nursing Students’ Reactions During a Rural Clinical Placement
- Voices of Innovation: Building a Model for Curriculum Transformation
- Bridging the Gap: Clinical Practice Nursing and the Effect of Role Strain on Successful Role Transition and Intent to Stay in Academia
- Resisting, Reaching Out and Re-imagining to Independence: LPN’s Transitioning towards BNs and Beyond
- Exploring the Issue of Failure to Fail in a Nursing Program
- Inclusive Mosaic: Promoting Diversity in Nursing through Youth Mentorship
- Interactive Learning Research: Application of Cognitive Load Theory to Nursing Education
- The Relevance of Indigenous Knowledge for Nursing Curriculum
- The Value of Community-Focused Interprofessional Care in Peru for Developing Cultural Competency in Health Professions Students
- Female Arab-Muslim Nursing Students’ Reentry Transitions
- High Fidelity Simulation Effectiveness in Nursing Students’ Transfer of Learning
- Communities of Practice in Nursing Academia: A Growing Need to Practice What We Teach
- Nurse Educators’ Perspectives on Student Development of Reflection for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Practice
- The Emerging Doctor of Education (EdD) in Instructional Leadership for Nurse Educators
- Five Years Later: Are Accelerated, Second-Degree Program Graduates Still in the Workforce?
- Knowledge and Perceptions of HIV/AIDS among Cameroonian Nursing Students
- Educating Nurses for the Twenty-First Century Abilities-Based Outcomes and Assessing Student Learning in the Context of Democratic Professionalism
- In Real Time: Exploring Nursing Students’ Learning during an International Experience
- Educating DNP Students about Critical Appraisal and Knowledge Translation
- 5-Years Later – Have Faculty Integrated Medical Genetics into Nurse Practitioner Curriculum?
- Stress, Depression, and Anxiety among Undergraduate Nursing Students
- Knowing Self and Caring Through Service Learning
- Teaching Experiences of Second Degree Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Faculty
- Reading Ella: Using Literary Patients to Enhance Nursing Students’ Reflective Thinking in the Classroom
- Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Students Use of Emotional Intelligence in Nursing as “Caring for a Human Being”: A Mixed Methods Grounded Theory Study
- Effective Classroom Teaching Methods: A Critical Incident Technique from Millennial Nursing Students’ Perspective
- Simulation Education Approaches to Enhance Collaborative Healthcare: A Best Practices Review
- Erratum to 5-Years Later – Have Faculty Integrated Medical Genetics into Nurse Practitioner Curriculum?
