Teaching Nursing Students the Ethical and Legal Consequences of Medical Errors: Insights from the RaDonda Vaught Case Using the Jigsaw Technique

Purpose

This article examines teaching the consequences of harm and error to multisite prelicensure baccalaureate, second-degree baccalaureate, and graduate nursing students utilizing the RaDonda Vaught Trial as an exemplar. The Jigsaw Technique (JT) was the chosen learning strategy to empower students with knowledge and understanding through the lens of terms acquired throughout existing concept-based nursing curriculum.

Results

Nursing students evaluated the approach to this activity using both quantitative and qualitative feedback. A total of 188 nursing students completed the survey, including undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Qualitative data obtained from students through open comments revealed common perceptions about such focal areas as advocacy, license protection, system failures, medication errors, and legal documentation. Quantitative outcomes related to the utilization of the JT approach were overwhelmingly positive.

Conclusion

Results indicate that our approach, combining the RaDonda Vaught case with the JT, was an effective strategy for teaching the consequences of medical errors in nursing practice.