We regularly get asked about a few different features in our site by prospective clients so we wanted to take this opportunity to explain our philosophy at Noggin Group and why we do things the way we do.
We truly believe that our products are a way to increase critical thinking skills and enliven the classroom experience. We don't provide text books or 3-D simulations of patients, but we do provide the tools to give your students the experience they need to document and think like a clinician (not just act like one).
What does that mean? Well, for an example, we don't automatically add up the numbers on our scales. Let's take the Glasgow Coma Scale as an example: if a student is completing the coma scale for a patient, they must add up the total themselves.
Why? Because we believe it's important for a student to understand that those aren't just numbers - they have meaning. And depending on what the numbers equal, the care for your patient will change.
The more students are directly involved in the manipulating and using the information, the more effective the activity is in providing the "Velcro" that holds it all together!
We don't believe future nurses should think in terms of "the computer said the Glasgow total was 5 so my patient's brain injury is severe". We want our medical care professionals to think, "Well, my patient is only opening his/her eyes in response to pain, is babbling unintelligibly and is moving very little.... when adding up those facts, it's clear that my patient has a severe brain injury which is also a 5 on the coma scale. The total score is low because my patient has multiple low level responses".
To us, the knowledge of what happens when those numbers are added is extremely important. We're not just viewing a number, we're interpreting symptoms and adding up the total potential damage.
... and let's not forget, math skills are incredibly important and this is a chance to practice them!