Oral presentation
The Higher Education Authority position paper (2009) and the Hunt Report (2010) specify the changes that need to occur within higher education in Ireland over the next twenty years. Within nurse education, teaching and learning approaches have to mirror the demands and complexities of practice, as well as meeting the requirements of educational authorities. Barrett and Moore (2011) suggest Problem-Based Learning (PBL) offers students the opportunity to connect theory and practice in preparation for practice on graduation. This case study evaluates student and lecturer feedback regarding a nursing module where two active learning approaches are merged. The PBL approach stimulated curiosity and critical thinking and enhanced the learning experience. Students reported that PBL gave them greater confidence in researching real life clinical problems. They effectively used key informatic resources to inform the patient case problems they were presented with and thereby discovered various ways to manage them. The opportunity to discuss the problems¿ dimensions in a group with peers and lecturers was appreciated by students. In turn the optimum solutions for their patient cases were identified prior to simulation sessions in our state of the art Clinical Skills Simulation Centre. Lecturers identified `resisting the urge to teach¿ and `getting to grips with PBL process¿ as the challenging aspects of the approach. They were however, encouraged by the individual creativity and student understanding they witnessed during the learning process. In this case study the pedagogical approach of PBL fostered a learning-centered approach to education. Promoting such approaches can stimulate intellectual curiosity and life-long learning.