Six Teaching Tips for CNA Inservices!

Coming up with ways to spice up your CNA inservice meetings can be challenging. Here are six tips that may help!

It’s a fact: adult learners enjoy lively continuing education sessions. But, coming up with ways to spice up your CNA inservice meetings can be challenging. Here are six tips that may help:

1. Every month, insert a crisp new $1.00 bill in a couple of the inservice handout packets. If you conduct your inservices in a group setting, ask the lucky recipients to read part of the inservice out loud or to “volunteer” for the participatory activities.

2. To promote participation during the inservice, pick a “secret word” or “secret phrase” prior to the inservice. It should be a word or phrase that is likely to be said by a participant during the learning session. Write it down on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. When someone says the secret word or phrase, make a big fuss and give that person a prize. You can even have two or three secret words prepared to keep the group alert and active throughout the entire inservice.

3. During an inservice–especially one that’s on a serious topic–take a few minutes to get rid of stress. Pass out some “stress-reducers” such as squeeze balls, bubble gum or rubber bands. Make paper airplanes and race them. Or inflate balloons and let them loose.

4. Reward participation during inservice meetings. using “Monopoly money”, give out a bill for each contribution to the topic at hand. Allow your CNAs to redeem the play money for little prizes (candy, magazines, pretty pens, etc.) that “cost” a certain amount of play money each.

5. Put a disposable tablecloth on the table during your inservices. Let your nurse aides draw or write on it (before and after the inservice and during a two minute break in the middle of the meeting).

6. To encourage group discussion or to make it easier to break into teams, copy each inservice onto two or more different colors of pastel paper. Group the participants together based on the color of their inservice. Or, ask for a member of each group to comment on a discussion question.

Using one or more of these simple strategies is bound to enliven your educational sessions and enhance learning…so, happy teaching!