How to Teach Strokes to Nursing Students
Nursing students must be trained to see specific symptoms in a patient at a hospital or doctor's office. This is especially true in the case of a stroke. If a nurse cannot see the subtle clues of a stroke in a patient, brain damage or death could occur. Nursing schools must inform nurses on all the traits of a stroke so the nurse can contact help or apply aid to the stroke victim.Things You'll Need
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Instructions
Talk about prevention to nursing students. Nursing students will have to discuss how they can communicate to patients the ways to avoid a stroke. Lifestyle choices, such as diet, high cholesterol, smoking or stress leading to hypertension, are all major factors that can contribute to a stroke.
Train the students that time is the most essential factor for a stroke victim. A teacher must hammer home to nursing students that they cannot quickly assess the victim's situation without the approximate time the stroke occurred or how the stroke is progressing.
Teach the biological signs of a stroke. Before the nurse interviews the patient or loved one, the nurse should see if several symptoms are showing in the patient. Symptoms such as eye-focusing problems, difficulty speaking, vomiting and confusion are possible signs that a stroke has occurred.
Know what questions to ask a patient or loved one. The correct questions to ask include if the patient is feeling numbness on one side of the body or if the patient is having trouble moving.
Tell nurses to always have emergency contacts near them at all times. Ambulance, doctor or hospital numbers need to be on a nurse, whether it is in a notepad or on their computer or even on their cell phones. Teaching the student to always be connected will help them react faster to emergencies.
Create one-on-one situations with actors playing patients. This is a great tool during medical school training. Nurses will have to assess if a patient is having a stroke, so having an actor pretend they are having a stroke helps. Also, allow the nurse to be alone with the actor-patient, that way the nurse is not being coached about what to see or notice.