Icebreakers, Openers, & Energizers

Sophie Radlowski

Icebreaker #1

Title: Calm your Nerves!

Life is a compromise of what your ego wants to do, what experience tells you to do, and what your nerves let you do.-Bruce Crampton

Rationale: Only by overcoming fear and calming ones nerves can you truly get the most out of this learning lesson and deepen the impact and proficiency with the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) platform.

Relationship to content: Many students come into class afraid of technology, afraid of computers, and afraid of learning something new and foreign to them. As an effective instructor my goal is to address all three of the above (ego, experience, and nerves) into the icebreaker and explain how my EPIC lesson plan will provide for an ego check, rely on past experiences as well as adopting new ones, in addition to letting go of some common fears and nerves by seeing, then applying standard easy-to-use techniques in the EMR.

Estimated Length of Time: 5 minutes

Resources Needed: Flipchart, Markers

Scenario & Description of Use:Begin by having the class observe you posting a sticky flipchart piece of paper on the front wall. Then, give the poster board a title at the top, center of the page. Call it CALM YOUR NERVES! Draw three columns and label each of them respectively, Ego, Experience, Nerves.

Ask for participation and informal answers from the group. This is meant to add engagement and pique their interest from the onset – both important attributes with adult learners. Ask the students one question and begin to flipchart their top 10 responses.Question: What keeps you up at night worrying about the adoption of the EPIC electronic medical record; it’s install into your department, and your new role with this latest and greatest technology platform for patient and staff records?

As you hear each response, place it into the correct/corresponding column.

As soon as I get a good list, at least 10 solid responses, and hopefully a minimum of 2-3 under each column, I explain the task at hand. I briefly discuss EPIC as an overview and how it will relate to their job. I spend approximately 1 minute calming nerves, explaining simple tasks in layman terms, and setting the stage for the 10 responses.

With previous students and various EPIC classes that I have taught, below is a sample of the types of questions I would hear and the column for which I placed it.

CALM YOUR NERVES!

Ego Experience NervesI am afraid they won’t need a unit secretary anymore if the computer can do it all.

I am used to calling down to the Pharmacy and talking to Fred to place my orders.

I am slow with computers.

I have been in nursing for 26 years – we don’t need some new fancy system to help take care of patients – is this going to be a flavor of the month?

I need a place where I can chart and take notes about the patient’s condition – the current paper forms have a spot for me to do this.

What if I type something wrong?

Why is the organization spending all of this money on a system when we are doing an okay job now?

There is a checklist with all of the items needed for medication reconciliation when I discharge a patient. What’s going to happen to it?

Will I still be able to do this for the physician?

How are the patients going to react to spending time on the computer instead of with a chart in my hand?

I already have an Excel spreadsheet that reports all of the necessary items for me daily such as intake, census, acuity of patients, reimbursement, etc.

Am I going to be spending time on the computer and not with my patients?

ABSTRACTInstructors and trainers must always be ready to set the conditions for learning. Icebreakers, openers, and energizers are used to get attention of a group of learners and to set the stage for the ensuing learning activity. Icebreakers and openers should always relate to the topic that is going to be addressed in the learning activity. They are short activities, usually lasting from two to five minutes, and are used at the beginning of a training session or lesson or after a break in a longer presentation or group of presentations.

Can I keep this still?

I let the class know that they are responsible (adding a sense of ownership – adult learning principle) for making sure I check each one off as we go through the lesson.

Then, the magic begins! I continue teaching my lesson, as I would normally do.

Experience:When I touch on part of the application/platform that discusses a variance in policy/protocol, I simply connect the dots to task at hand and relate it to the old way versus the new way. In the sample above, the old method of getting a patient’s medications ordered and delivered to the room was done by calling down to the Pharmacy and talking with Fred. Now, as I show them a few times in EPIC, there is a quicker and more reliable method for getting the necessary medications. I explain to them that since we have called up a specific patient’s chart, the order is linked to a specific person and won’t be accidentally administered to the wrong room. And, because the system has a series of checks and audits, the EPIC system knows from a drop-down menu of choices the different medications that are available – thus not being able to accidentally order a more potent or unaccepted drug for the patient’s need. In addition, by selecting the drug the physician has prescribed, there is no chance of misunderstanding, miscommunication, or not being able to hear/read what was previously done on the phone. Last but not least – this method takes 15 seconds to accomplish, much faster than the phone call and old method/experience of ordering medication.

Nerves: When I touch on part of the application/platform that discusses the easy-to-use interaction and drop-down menu formatting, I simply connect the dots to task at hand and relate it to their nerves. I relate the input of data to the multitude of checks and balances built into the system to prevent mistakes, to provide the end-user with the ability to go back and make changes, and how the unique use of pre-built order sets and on-screen navigation walk the person through what to do next.

Ego:When I touch on part of the application/platform that discusses the future use of the platform, this allows me to address any negativity surrounding why now, the cost of the product, or even it’s longevity and continued use. In the flavor of the month example, I am able to connect the dots to items such as meaningful use (federally guaranteed money and organizational reimbursement), the expectations of senior management, as well as adoption of a LEAN method of thinking and doing leading to performance improvement and decrease in non-productive/inefficient time spent.

Throughout my time spent with the class I get to see tension lessoned, nerves calmed, and smiles on faces as each concern/question is addressed. The teaching environment has truly become a unique situation where the student feels comfortable with the content, comfortable with their application/use of the system, and comfortable with using the EPIC platform is a real-world scenario.

Recheck and icebreaker validation:The best method of validation is to reengage the staff/students with each of the questions. This serves two purposes; one is to make sure you held true to your promise and covered each one. Does each have a check/slash through it and the class agrees

that you provided them with an adequate answer. The second purpose is to serve as a confirmation that they recall the content and can apply what you have taught them.

Ego questions are absolved.Experience questions are removed.Nerves questions are eliminated.

Empirical Data:Written evaluations by students have shown that they have liked this icebreaker, it helped them keep track of content throughout the class, and felt the engaged learning atmosphere was positive and calming.

After class comments by students have suggested they appreciated the willingness of the instructor to take the preconceived feelings of the student into account, to help guide each of their questions with solid and sound responses, as well as personalizing the lesson so that each class is able to walk away with a different set of accomplishment yet from the same content and lesson plan.

Actual audits from the EPIC system related to errors, system up-time needed to perform a task, etc. has shown the teaching to be effective.

Energizer #2

Title: Connect the Dots

Rationale: Learning can truly happen when the student can recognize why, how, and how come related to his/her position and the content being learned. Like the quote above, it’s about connecting looking backward – not forward.

Relationship to content:This particular energizer is a favorite of mine as it integrates different learning styles, encourages participation, and serves two purposes. The first purpose is to bring the class back and center their attention to the classroom and learning environment as well as continue with a bit of literal “active” learning (kinesthetic learners). After coming back from break – it takes good classroom management skills to get everyone back in the mindset of learning and ready to continue. This energizer does that engaging the student in active participation. Secondly, this energizer helps visually (visual learners) connect the dots with content that has been learned half way through the classroom instruction and to set the stage for the next set of learning and system functions/features.

Estimated Length of Time: 5 minutes

Resources Needed: Construction paper (preferably different colors), tape, marker

Scenario & Description of Use:Cut the construction paper into callout symbols. See sample below. You will need as many callouts as you have students. And, you will need two more – for you. On your first callout, write the name of your subject matter or major topic of the curriculum being taught. For me, I always write EPIC Electronic Medical Record (EMR) since that is the platform the students are learning and the crux of why they are in attendance.

With the rest of the callouts, continue the same exercise by writing down one related concept or major interest area. One concept per callout. While the students are on break, tape each callout on the top, left corner or their computer monitor. This will pique their interest when they return and decrease the needed time spent having them come up with words or concepts.

On your second callout, you are going to demonstrate the purpose of the energizer. Write a major function/feature, or topic relative to the subject/content that was previously taught.

Here is where the magic begins and you help connect the dots with the curriculum and what has been learned.

The instructor (in this case it’s me) begins by sticking the main callout (EPIC) somewhere on a blank whiteboard where each student can easily access and see.

Then, place your second callout around the center theme. Draw a connecting line between the two. Explain what purpose the second callout topic has to the first and connect the dots or lines of learning by reinforcing the learned concept and how the two ideas are married within the platform/system.

Now, explain the directions of the exercise to the class.

1. Each of you has been given a callout and is sticking to your computer monitor.2. You job is to connect the dots and lines of learning. By doing so – we will create a web of callouts drawing a linear

relationship to one another and the main topic being learned today – EPIC.

3. Take your callout, one at a time, and 4. Your job is to:

a. Come to the front of the room one at a timeb. Briefly (10 -20 seconds) tell the rest of the class what word is written on your calloutc. Place it on the whiteboard where you most see the resemblance with your word and the main topicd. Face the group and explain why/how it is connected to the area you chose on the board

5. If your word does not connect, that’s okay. Simply begin a new area on the whiteboard and explain the connection.6. Ask if there are any questions and clarify exercise if needed.7. Begin by asking if there are any volunteers? If not, kindly choose someone to begin the energizer.

This exercise should not take more than 5 minutes.

Recheck and Energizer validation:When all callouts have been taped to the board, take a step back and admire the work of the class. Congratulate them on a job well done. It is important to show this recognition and praise them these newly learned skills/functions/features. As one final gesture and note of comprehension, ask the group if they would add or change any of the callouts and why?

This comprehension will provide a great springboard into the next set of curriculum topics and set the stage for engaged, energized learning to happen.

Empirical Data: Test scores Cross-functional utilization of the platform/system Rationale and explanations given during presentation show content was learned

Sample Pictogram: