Nursing and Fine Arts Students Collaborate on Learning Experience

Students and faculty from the School of Nursing and Allied Health Administration and the School of Fine Arts are collaborating on class activity that gives acting students and nursing students hands-on learning experience.

During the spring 2013 semester, about 85 Associate Degree in Nursing (ASN) students in the “Nursing – Care of Adults I” class taught by Dr. Denice Kirchoff, Leia Bobo and Theresa Jones collaborated with students in Jeffrey Ingman’s acting class.

The nursing faculty created a series of scenarios expressing real-life situations that nurses may have to face: talking with a patient diagnosed with breast cancer; a patient dealing with a positive HIV diagnosis; a patient going through menopause; a patient who must have prostate cancer surgery; a patient who is a drug abuser and has been diagnosed with AIDS. Working with Ingman and his students, they developed the scenarios for interactive presentation in the classroom for three sessions in the spring semester.

Not only did nursing students have to interact with the patient (played by an acting student) in a professional and caring manner, the nursing students also had to offer support to the patient’s family members (also portrayed by acting students). These simulated situations help nursing students practice interpersonal skills and give acting students practice honing their skills in their portrayals of the patients and family members.

Denice KirchoffLeia BoboTheresa JonesJeffrey IngmanSchool of Nursing and Allied Health AdministrationSchool of Fine Arts