The trigger film in nurse education

The use of video in education is now common place. Most Colleges of Nursing and Midwifery have access to the equipment for making and/or showing their own films. Video cannot be used indiscriminately and assumed to be effective. Many educational videos are entertaining but encourage a passive audience. As a result the materials may be enjoyable but the learning achieved, disappointing. An application of video that involves the student in active learning is the trigger film. This is a short piece of film, generally only a few minutes long whose aim is to stimulate and provoke learning. It is a unique form of film possessing special characteristics. The use of the trigger film in other areas of education is documented but its application to nurse education not widely explored. A trigger film has been produced by the author and used with nursing students (RN/Dip HE) to explore professional issues. The trigger film has been found to be an excellent stimulus for discussion and particularly effective for analysis of complex issues. Evaluation by students has been overwhelmingly positive. The trigger film lends itself to exploitation within nurse education. It is particularly useful for learning within the Affective Domain (Baud & Pearson 1979). This paper will discuss the use of video in nurse education, the concept of the trigger film and the use and evaluation of the authors own film. ?? 1994.