I've been working on the projects we might take on in the school health component of this course. There are many, many possibilities in addition to the usual height, weight, BMI, vision, and hearing screening. We might be able to do BP and asthma screening. I also got a number of good ideas looking at a calendar of health-related events, for example, School Lunch Week, Peak Experience USA (asthma management), and Henry the Hand (a delightful curriculum on hand hygiene for all grades).
Another community-based clinical learning experience consists of a visit to a local pharmacy (Lieber, 1997). There students examine the number of over-the-counter remedies available for a preassigned common infant/child problem, for example, pediculosis (did you know there's actually a National Pediculosis Association? Their website is www.headlice.org!), contact dermatitis, colds and coughs, and others. The purposes of this assignment are to
- Help students learn about the management of common pediatric health problems by nonprescription drugs
- Identify problems that parents may have with administration of medications
- Identify the nurse's responsibility in recommending medications
Students gather these data about the medications for their assigned condition:
- Name and ingredients
- Classification
- Dosage and frequency
- Administration directions
- Any difficulties with the directions
- Number of days to be given
- Expected results
- Side effects
- Price
- Availability of other drugs for same condition
We'll discuss the findings in post-conferences and see if we can come to any decisions about recommendations for parents regarding these medications. For more information on this project, check out Marilyn T. Lieber's 1997 article, "Community-Based Pediatric Experiences: Education for the Future," in Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 12(2), 85-88.
Other ideas? I'd love to hear them.
Art
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