Lesson Learned

This week, we learned about disaster preparedness and emergency codes utilized in the hospital. My methods of instruction were a brief lecture on the importance of having a disaster plan and why healthcare professionals need to know their role when a disaster strikes. The students were then divided into 8 groups of 3 based on the color shirt they were wearing (example, Code Red=red shirts). Each group had to produce a poster regarding their assigned code to include pictures.

The kicker was that before the groups provided an oral presentation, they had to communicate their emergency code using non-verbal communication! They couldn't proceed with the presentation until someone guessed the code. It was hilarious! The students had to complete a quiz over the emergency codes presented and they did really well. They stated that the non-verbal communication method helped them to remember more than the posters! So, I learned a more effective and fun method of providing instruction.