Student group’s challenge

“A student had a certain illness as a child and had to get injections very often and was extremely scared of those injections. And so, the students wanted to come up with an innovation that would make children not so scared of injections. […] You can for example distract children by playing a video or something or they watch Donald Duck, and at the same time they get injected. You can also distract them with a teddy bear or something like that. But the students evaluated those solutions and concluded that this is not an effective solution yet, because they (students) were working on the fear of needles in the acute phase that children have to be injected, like in the emergency room. And then, nurses do not have a cuddle or a video, because there is no time for that. The needle immediately goes in and that generates the fear among children. So, the students wanted something different as a solution. […] This group came up with another solution and then presented it—again—to the nurse in the emergency room. And the nurse told them, ‘you have not thought about this and that, because your solution is not going to work. So, you will have to do it differently’. So, the students went back to the drawing board and tried to come up with a better solution. […] The students came up with the idea of letting the young children in control how they (children) would like to be injected. So, there is a choice process in which the injection needle was processed in a Disney doll where the needle itself is not visible. And the children could then choose between different dolls, giving them (children) more control over the injection process. […] How did the students react to the feedback from the nurse? Well, the students actually loved that. That they (students) have someone in practice who thinks along with their topic. Who can also just say something about it, who provides relevant information. Of course, sometimes it is indeed a bit of a disappointment, if a stakeholder says what you came up with, that is not going to work in practice for this and that reason. But students generally find it great when they (students) can talk to people in practice or on the work floor. And refine their idea with the stakeholder or maybe even completely change their idea. That is a bit sad, but most of the time the students still experience it as positive” [T2 fear of needles].

Teaching activities

“When the students started to work on this problem, they wanted to develop a solution for young children. But then I think, you have not thought at all about the precise age of the child. […] So, if you—as a teacher—ask students such critical questions, the students will think themselves, oh, what we thought may not be entirely correct, we have to do something else. […] So, yes, I always try to think logically. I feel a little bit like a multifunctional stakeholder. […] Yes, then I encourage the students to first talk to a nurse at the emergency room. So, then the role of the teacher is to make that possible. So, I will make contact with someone from the emergency room and ask if the students can come. In this case, I introduced the students to a pediatrician from the children's center here, because he knows a lot more about what and why of the problem. So, the role of the teacher is important in the mediation or facilitation field. […] And after the feedback from the nurse. Was there a role for you as a teacher? No, not really. I did not really have an active role anymore, but students kept me informed. The students started communicating more with the nurse and the pediatrician and did not really need me anymore” [T2 fear of needles].