Jigsaw Technique and Stroke Patient Care

Nursing plays a critical role in protecting the health of individuals and society, preventing diseases and managing health problems. The quality of health services largely depends on the training of qualified nurses. Therefore, effective nursing education is very important for nurses to perform these duties in the best way possible. The effectiveness of the education process directly affects the quality of health services by shaping the knowledge, skills and attitudes of nurses. Innovations and technological advances in the field of medicine have made nursing education a constantly changing and developing field. Traditional education methods have given way to modern, interactive and student-centered approaches. These new approaches in nursing education enable students to gain critical thinking skills; they increase their clinical performance and knowledge adequacy. Many teaching strategies such as simulation applications, problem-based teaching, case discussion, virtual reality, puzzles, concept maps, flipped classrooms, collaborative learning and jigsaw techniques have been incorporated into nursing education. In the jigsaw technique, students form a group and follow a path where each group member learns a part of the subject and shares it with their peers. This means that all students are both learners and teachers in the learning process. Students cooperate and communicate with each other to learn the entire subject, and in this way, the subject is learned completely. The jigsaw technique helps students express their perspectives effectively, actively participate in the learning process, and develop their successes, skills, and positive attitudes. With this method, an active learning environment is created where students support each other and can identify and complete deficiencies. The effective application of this technique significantly increases students' self-confidence, communication skills, problem-solving skills, attitudes towards learning, motivation, sense of responsibility, academic achievements, and retention of information. In the care of stroke patients, nurses' ability to perform a complete neurological assessment, symptom control, and critical thinking skills during the treatment process protect both the physical and psychological well-being of patients, increasing the coordination of the treatment process and patient safety. In addition, effective communication provides support to the family by strengthening not only the harmony within the team but also the harmony of patients and their relatives. Learning information about stroke patient care, developing communication and problem-solving skills, and critical and holistic thinking skills are gained during the nursing education process. Although problem-based learning, case discussions and case scenarios, and simulation applications are used in stroke patient care nursing education in the literature, the use of the jigsaw technique is quite limited. Based on this information, it is anticipated that stroke patient care education provided with the Jigsaw technique can increase the cooperation and communication skills of nursing students and enable them to obtain more effective and comprehensive knowledge in clinical care.