Digital learning materials enable individualised learning
The ZHAW School of Health Sciences has developed digital learning materials to support clinical assessment. Nursing and midwifery students can use the tools regardless of time and location.
One of the core competences of nurses and midwives is to assess the state of health of a patient. Learning how to carry out a physical examination and obtain a patient’s medical history is thus covered at the Bachelor’s level early in their training. Since June 2023, new digital learning materials have been available to help with that. “They meet various learning needs,” say Uta Grosse, Anja Pfister and Sara Häusermann, all of whom work at the Institute of Nursing and the Institute of Midwifery and Reproductive Health. “Preparation for the courses can be carried out at the students’ own pace, no matter the time or place.”
Available to other institutions
The clinical assessment materials cover 11 subjects, including the musculoskeletal system, the heart and vessels and the neurological system. Individual topics are deepened with instructional videos, workbooks, checklists as well as pre- and post-processing exercises. These materials have been developed over a period of two years and have been tested and optimised in the classroom. All these learning media are now publicly available as a free open educational resource. This was made in the spirit of inclusiveness in order to be able to reach people who would otherwise not have access to such documents. At the same time, the development of similar projects can be avoided. Other educational and practical institutions can therefore benefit from the project at the ZHAW. Grosse, Pfister and Häusermann highlight that this will strengthen patient care overall and that the ZHAW will contribute to the transfer of theory into industry practice.