The next practical tip is to relate a real life story to what you’re talking about.

We want to make things real so that they don’t just feel theoretical. Sharing examples from your real life experience helps to enhance learning and makes the topic more relevant. Talk about an actual patient situation you had. You’d be amazing how powerful and engaging saying something like “I just saw this on a patient last week” can be! Or even “I’ve seen this dozens of times, I’ll tell you about one of them.” I’ve even talked about my grandfather’s heart failure or my husband’s hiatal hernia. Any way you can use to relate it to real life or provide a real life example will help students feel like what they’re learning is actually relevant to the practice they’re going into.

One HUGE caveat here is please, please, please make sure you’re adhering to HIPAA. Don’t use any identifying information and make sure you protect the privacy of your patients.

Okay – one more practical tip to go! Now, go out and be your best self today. And, as always, happy nursing!