Pilot in Ireland: Compassion, human connection and confidence

The EduCanNURS Cancer Care Continuum blending learning module was also piloted with a group of third-year undergraduate nursing students at the University of Galway, Ireland.

This 5-ECTS module was offered to students as an elective over a seven-week period. Students were provided with a timetable outlining which learning activities they should complete using the ThingLink materials each week, as well as the focus of knowledge application for classroom activities and assessments.

Upon completion of the module, focus group interviews were held with the non-specialist teachers who facilitated students’ learning and students. Focus group interviews were also held with cancer care experts who reviewed the Cancer Care Continuum module.

Learning to navigate difficult conversations with empathy and confidence

For students, the format of how the module was organised in terms of the flipped classroom and self-directed aspects helped their engagement with learning, expressed in the following comment:

It was a lot easier to engage in the class because we had already learned the information at home, so you were coming into the class with a bit of knowledge, so participation was a lot easier then.

An overarching sentiment among students was the confidence that having a broad knowledge of cancer brought to them, especially in communicating with people affected by cancer, as illustrated in the following comments:

I’ve learnt through this module that it’s okay to have those tough conversations, to be there for the patient, not just clinically but also emotionally. And just informing them and educating them about their condition, and being there for them and their family.

Just one thing I learnt was that sometimes all the patients need is for you to just listen to them, just sit down and listen to them. You don’t always have to be talking to them; they might just want to get something off their chest.

In addition, students reported that the module helped them gain insight into the individuality of each patient’s experience, including how much information they want or do not want about their cancer and treatment.

Students also offered suggestions on what aspects of cancer care they wanted more of. These included more on symptom management, especially in advanced cancer.

Flipped classroom approach strengthening learning

The non-specialist teachers were generally positive about the content and format of the learning materials on ThingLink, but added that a glossary of ‘cancer terminology’ would be useful. The flipped classroom approach was also viewed positively, but difficult in the beginning, as they wanted to “try and challenge [students] to be able to put it [cancer care information] into context”.

They also felt that the content on ThingLink could be more logically laid out. They felt that the use of ‘lists’ on ThingLink without context was unhelpful for students, and that in the classroom, students had difficulty understanding the ‘why ’ of, for instance, oral mucositis with chemotherapy. They therefore sought to employ strategies to help students understand the context of supportive care in cancer treatment.

From technical knowledge to holistic understanding of care

The experts in cancer care were also positive in their views, describing the module as ‘easy to follow’ and ‘quite detailed’. The use of patient case studies was also positively regarded. While the experts were overall positive about the content, they suggested that some aspects were a bit too ‘technical’, providing the example of the effects of chemotherapy on the cell and suggesting that this content would be more relevant for students if it were directly connected to what it does to the body in a holistic way:
“…what it does to the heart, what it does to the hair, to the cells of the mouth”

The full findings of the pilot will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal later in 2026.

Writers: Maura Dowling, Orlaith Hernon and Christina Lydon, University of Galway