| Course | C918 Evolving Roles of Nurse Educators in Diverse Environments |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 2 |
| Paper type | Applied teaching plan |
| Length | About 1,000 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | MSN Nursing Education |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for C918 Task 2
Applied Teaching Plan: A 90-Minute Skills Lab on Programming Smart Infusion Pumps Safely for Second-Semester Nursing Students
Student Name
Leavitt School of Health, Western Governors University
C918: Evolving Roles of Nurse Educators in Diverse Environments, Task 2
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Applied Teaching Plan: A 90-Minute Skills Lab on Programming Smart Infusion Pumps Safely for Second-Semester Nursing Students
The Learners
The learners are 16 second-semester students in the composite associate degree program described in the role analysis, in their first medical-surgical clinical rotation. Most are adults in their twenties and thirties; several work as nursing assistants, and a few are career changers from other fields. They are motivated by clinical relevance and by fear of making a medication error. Adult learners bring experience and want to know why something matters before they invest in learning it (Knowles et al., 2015), which suggests starting the session with a real problem rather than a device manual.
What They Do Well and Where They Fall Short
Strengths: on the first-semester dosage calculation examination, 92% of the group calculated manual infusion rates correctly, and they can describe the rights of medication administration. Gaps: during the first three clinical weeks, instructors observed students hesitating at the pump, attempting to enter rates without selecting a medication from the drug library, and becoming confused when programming a secondary infusion, such as an antibiotic piggyback, above a primary maintenance infusion. Two students set a secondary infusion running at the primary rate before the nurse caught it. These gaps matter because a multihospital observational study found that 60% of intravenous infusions observed had at least one error despite the use of smart pumps, with bypassing the pump or its drug library and wrong rates among the most frequent (Schnock et al., 2017). The problem is not arithmetic; it is safe use of the device.
Learning Objectives
When the session ends, every student will be able to: (1) program a primary continuous infusion on the college's smart pump using the drug library, verifying the medication, concentration and rate against the order; (2) program a secondary infusion above a running primary infusion, with correct line setup and clamp position; (3) respond to a soft and a hard dose-limit alert by stopping, rechecking the order and calculation, and choosing the correct action; and (4) explain in their own words why bypassing the drug library increases the risk of harm. The first three objectives are at the application level of the revised taxonomy of learning objectives; the fourth is at the understanding level, and it supports the others by giving students a reason to follow the safe process under pressure.
Teaching Plan
Opening (10 minutes): a brief, de-identified story of an infusion error in which a nurse programmed a heparin infusion without the drug library and entered 10 times the intended rate. Students discuss in pairs where the process failed and what safeguard would have stopped it.
Demonstration (15 minutes): the instructor programs a primary and a secondary infusion on the pump, thinking aloud at each step, projected on the screen, and pauses at the three points where students most often go wrong: selecting the medication from the library, checking the concentration and hanging the secondary bag higher than the primary.
Deliberate practice (45 minutes): students rotate in pairs through four stations, each with an order, a medication bag and a pump. One student programs while the other checks against a printed step checklist; they then switch roles. The stations become harder: a basic primary infusion, a primary with a secondary antibiotic, an order that triggers a soft limit alert and an order with a deliberate error that should trigger a hard limit. The instructor and a lab assistant move between stations, correcting technique immediately.
Debrief (20 minutes): the group reviews what alerts appeared, what each pair did and why, and what they will do at the pump on their next clinical day. Each student writes one sentence on an exit card about the step they are most likely to get wrong and how they will prevent it.
Resources and Inclusion
Resources: four smart pumps borrowed from the hospital partner's biomedical department with the same drug library the students will use, tubing sets, labeled practice bags, printed orders and step checklists, and a lab assistant. The session fits within a scheduled skills lab, so no extra hours are needed.
Inclusion: the step checklist uses plain language and pictures of the pump screen, which helps multilingual students and anyone who learns best visually. Students with documented accommodations receive the checklist a week in advance and may request extra practice time. Pairs are assigned so that students who work as nursing assistants are matched with students without clinical experience, and roles switch at every station so no one only watches. The debrief invites every student to name an error they nearly made, framing mistakes in the lab as part of learning rather than as failure.
Evaluation
Immediate: each student completes a checklist-based competency at the end of the session, programming a primary and a secondary infusion from a new order without prompting. The target is 90% of students passing on the first attempt; students who do not pass practice again during open lab hours and retest within one week. Delayed: four weeks later, clinical instructors observe each student programming a pump on the unit using the same checklist, and the target is that no student programs an infusion without the drug library. Program level: the number of pump-related near misses reported by clinical partners for this cohort is compared with the previous cohort. Student feedback on the exit cards and a short survey will be used to revise the session.
Connection to the Educator Role
This plan puts several dimensions of the academic nurse educator role to work. As a professional educator, the instructor designed the session from observed learner needs and evidence about patient safety. As a collaborator, the instructor worked with the hospital's pharmacy to use the same drug library settings students will see on their units. And as a change leader, the instructor will share the results with the curriculum committee, since effective teaching and evaluation practices should be built into the curriculum rather than depend on one faculty member (Oermann et al., 2021).
References
Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., III, & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (8th ed.). Routledge.
Oermann, M. H., De Gagne, J. C., & Phillips, B. C. (Eds.). (2021). Teaching in nursing and role of the educator: The complete guide to best practice in teaching, evaluation, and curriculum development (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1891/9780826152633
Schnock, K. O., Dykes, P. C., Albert, J., Ariosto, D., Call, R., Cameron, C., Carroll, D. L., Drucker, A. G., Fang, L., Garcia-Palm, C. A., Husch, M. M., Maddox, R. R., McDonald, N., McGuire, J., Rafie, S., Robertson, E., Saine, D., Sawyer, M. D., Smith, L. P., . . . Bates, D. W. (2017). The frequency of intravenous medication administration errors related to smart infusion pumps: A multihospital observational study. BMJ Quality & Safety, 26(2), 131-140. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004465
What the C918 Task 2 instructions ask
The second C918 task asks you to design a teaching plan for a specific group of learners. Most versions ask you to describe the learners, identify their learning needs, write measurable objectives, outline the teaching activities and timing, list resources, address inclusion or diverse learning needs, plan evaluation and connect the plan to the nurse educator role. The plan should be practical enough to carry out in the stated time. The evaluator reads for alignment: objectives should come from the learners' needs, activities should serve the objectives, and evaluation should measure whether the objectives were met.
How this C918 Task 2 example is built
The plan introduces the learners and their clinical context, then analyzes their strengths and gaps with evidence such as exam results. Objectives are numbered and measurable. The teaching plan is timed segment by segment, beginning with a story that makes the risk real and moving from demonstration to practice to scenarios. Resources are specific, including pumps with the same drug library students will use. Inclusion covers different learning needs. Evaluation happens immediately with a competency checklist and later in clinical. The final section links the plan to several dimensions of the educator role analyzed in Task 1. The session ends with a debrief that returns to the opening story, which helps learners connect the error to what they practiced.
Where the C918 Task 2 rubric puts the marks
Each C918 Task 2 aspect is rated competent, approaching competence or not evident. A learner aspect checks that the learners and their needs are described with evidence. An objectives aspect wants measurable objectives tied to those needs. A teaching strategies aspect looks for activities and timing that serve the objectives. Resource and inclusion aspects ask for specific materials and adaptations. An evaluation aspect looks for methods that measure the objectives. Some versions include an aspect connecting the plan to the educator role. Evaluators expect sources for teaching strategies, cited in APA style, and professional writing. Plans that link each objective to one activity and one evaluation method make alignment easy for the evaluator to confirm at a glance.
C918 Task 2 help: what sends it back
Teaching plans come back most often because objectives are not measurable. Use action verbs you can observe, such as program or verify, rather than understand. Second, activities do not always match objectives; check that every objective has an activity and an evaluation. Third, timing is unrealistic, with too much content for the session. Time each segment. Fourth, inclusion is often a generic sentence. Name specific adaptations for the learners you described. Finally, evaluation should measure performance, not satisfaction alone. A checklist competency, as in the sample, gives evidence that the objectives were met. Rehearse the session once with a colleague to test the timing before you finalize the plan.
Get a C918 Task 2 example written to your instructions
Send the C918 Task 2 requirements, the rubric aspects your evaluator will use, and a short description of the learner group you have in mind. We build a custom example around that group, with objectives and evaluation that line up, and return it within 24 to 48 hours. The first custom sample is free.
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C918 Task 2 questions, answered
Can the learner group be one I actually teach?
In most versions yes, and it usually produces a stronger submission, because you know what the group already does and what it avoids. Remove anything identifying the organization or the individuals, and keep the description general enough to be safe while staying specific enough to teach to. If your requirements name the group for you, use theirs and do not substitute your own.
How many objectives belong in this plan?
Fewer than most people write. Two or three objectives that each get a teaching strategy and a matching form of evidence read far stronger than six sharing one activity between them. Every objective you add has to be taught and then measured, so an extra one costs you twice. Check your requirements first, since some versions state a number outright.
Does a teaching plan need cited sources?
Yes in current versions, and the citations belong under the choices rather than at the end. The reason a strategy suits this group, the evidence that the identified need is real, and the basis for the evaluation method all rest on nursing education literature. Source attribution and professional communication usually carry aspects of their own, so a sound plan can still return for citation problems alone.
What makes a good learning objective in C918 Task 2?
A statement of what the learner will be able to do, using an observable verb, a condition and a standard. The sample's objectives each describe a pump task students must perform correctly.
Where can I find a free C918 Task 2 sample paper?
The 90-minute lab plan is reproduced above with comments. Tell us about your learners in the C918 instructions and a first custom plan is written free.