This
500 level on-line elective course, in addition to drawing
students from the school's RN-to-BSN program, also attracts
masters nursing students, as well as those from its graduate
interdisciplinary gerontology program, and from its Institute
on Aging Consortium. The class is also open to students
from other disciplines, including those in social work,
business, and therapeutic recreation. Dr. Beth Barba, Hartford
post-doc scholar and one of the course's founders, reports
that this on-line format lends itself to teaching end-of-life
care, as it gives students time for thoughtfulness regarding
the difficult subject matter. End-of-Life Care's interdisciplinary
nature gives students experience that generalizes well to
their work settings.
The
course employs the following teaching components: group
work; short article reviews; experiential assignments; movie
analyses; case studies; and electronic discussion forums.
Dr. Barba notes that students tend to be more willing in
peer group work, to recognize and change attitudes about
aging and death, than they would normally be in more conventional
didactic settings. Students remain in these small 4-to-6
person groups for the duration of the course. Each group
has representation from the various disciplines registered:
i.e. one nurse, one social worker, one business student,
etc. All student writings are submitted on-line to fellow
group members for discussion.
The
students are required to complete several assignments per
each of the following four units of study: Interdisciplinary
Care at the End of Life; Ethical/Legal/Cultural Issues;
Grief, Loss, Bereavement; and Quality Care at End of Life.
For each of these units, students must independently locate
2 research articles with content pertinent to that unit,
and then write short
article reviews. Units also include 2 to 3 experiential
or attitudinal assignments, for example: letter
addressed to death; interview with person in pain; and/or
discussion with family member about advanced directives.
The
Grief, Loss, Bereavement unit requires each group to choose
a film and write a movie
analysis; the cinema list includes: Wit; Beaches; Terms
of Endearment; Philadelphia Story; Steel Magnolias; Tuesdays
with Morrie; Angela's Ashes. For their last unit, Quality
Care at End of Life, the students divide into pairs, and
pick a terminal medical condition about which they write
a case
study paper. At the end of the course students write
thank
you notes to their peers, thanking them for the contributions
to their learning. These letters indicate an overwhelming
positive response to End-of-Life Care's on-line structure,
group experience and course content.
