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Roberts Wesleyan Nursing Program Presents Groundbreaking Teaching Method in Italy: Global Recognition for Roberts Wesleyan's Dual-Perspective Nursing Education
Roberts Wesleyan University's commitment to innovative nursing education recently shone on the international stage as Assistant Professor of Nursing Sharon Kurtz presented at the prestigious International Learning Collaborative (ILC) conference in Genoa, Italy. She presented in the Poster Presentations: Education category on behalf of the Roberts faculty and students, “Innovative Pedagogical Approach to Caring Interventions: An Exploration of the Dual Perspective with Undergraduate Nursing Students,” which helps students deeply understand the patient experience.
Assistant Professor of Nursing, Sharon Kurtz
The ILC Annual International Conference, held this year on June 16-17, is a signature event uniting global experts and champions of fundamental care from practice, research, education, and policy.
Professor Kurtz represented Roberts Wesleyan University in the Poster Presentations: Education category. The presentation highlighted an innovative pedagogical approach used in Roberts' undergraduate Fundamentals of Nursing course. This unique method involves students alternating roles with peers to experience both the nurse and patient perspectives while practicing essential skills like oral care, feeding, and drinking.
"This dual perspective fosters both procedural competence and emotional intelligence, essential for practical nursing," explained Professor Kurtz.
This innovative approach is aligned with the Fundamentals of Care Framework, emphasizing the crucial nurse-patient relationship and integrating psychosocial and physiological care. By engaging in these hands-on, peer-involved labs, students gain not only practical proficiency but also a humbling understanding of patient vulnerability. This exercise deepens their appreciation for maintaining patient dignity, autonomy, and comfort, reinforcing compassionate practice as a core nursing competency at Roberts.
Dean of the School of Nursing, Dr. Annemarie Dowling-Castronovo
In addition to the poster presentation, the Dean of the School of Nursing, Dr. Annemarie Dowling-Castronovo, and Professor Kurtz led a workshop on this teaching strategy and its curriculum mapping. "It was rewarding to lead a workshop on this teaching strategy and its curriculum mapping, laying the groundwork for others to implement similar impactful approaches," shared Dean Dowling-Castronovo. “The informal feedback from attendees was extraordinarily positive."
The end result of this work is that Roberts Wesleyan students have reported increased sensitivity toward patients’ needs for respect and empathy, heightened awareness of power dynamics in caregiving, and a stronger sense of responsibility toward compassionate care.
