Nursing Education & Research

Biography

David Huynh is a graduate from the Bachelor of Nursing program in University of Calgary. His passion for making a difference in society leads him to this career path. Along the way he participated in a wide variety of volunteer activities including visiting elderly patients in this hospital. With this particular experience, he found it supplemented his learning in school and supported his development into a registered nurse. Specifically, it helped strengthen his communication skills and allowed him to see older adults as unique individuals as opposed to stereotyping this population. He pondered on the educational value of volunteering with older adults to nursing education, thus leading to a qualitative study on the topic. The study focuses on the learning and experiences of nursing students who volunteered in a similar setting.

Wai Yin Mak as a graduate from the Bachelor of Nursing program at the University of Calgary, he has developed a continuing interest towards the aging population in society.  Prior to his post secondary education, he was actively involved in a variety of volunteering activities including working closely with older adults in long term care and visitations with older adults in the hospital setting. Throughout his nursing degree, he found his volunteer experience reinforced many of his learnings at school. Specifically, his volunteer vastly influenced his approaches to patient care, communication and interaction with patients, and much more. As such, Wai Yin strived to find a means to bring both his extracurricular volunteering and school knowledge together, ultimately resulting in this research study. The topic of this study primarily focuses on the learned experiences of nursing students who have volunteered with this aging population. 

 

Abstract

This abstract describes how the educational value exposure to older adults in a work or volunteer environment can influence a nursing student’s perception of them. Two groups of nursing students from the University of Calgary were recruited via email. One group only worked with older adults during routine clinical placement as part of their undergraduate nursing degree, while the other group volunteered at the Wing Kei Care center for 3 months in addition to their usual clinical placement. All of the participants were interviewed by members of the research team. Audios from the interviews were analyzed. All participants described a positive change in their attitudes towards older adults. Regardless of the role, nursing students said they developed stronger communication skills and increased confidence in working with older adults. However, participants who volunteered for longer periods of time voiced more profound changes in communication skills. Both volunteering and clinical experiences with older adults had a positive impact on nursing student’s perceptions of older adults, and their communication skills. However, development of communication skills varied, apparently influenced by participants’ roles and the time they spent in them.