Advantages of Simulations with Nursing Students
Nurse educators face the challenge of finding optimal opportunities for students to learn the critical thinking skills necessary to care for patients with increased acuity without jeopardizing patient safety. The current faculty shortage, increased acuity of patients, and increased numbers of nursing students creates a challenge for nurse educators to provide those necessary learning opportunities for students in the clinical setting. In addition, there is no guarantee that the clinical unit will provide the learning opportunities necessary to expose the student to low incidence but highly critical events. |
Professor Valerie Howard demonstrates airway management to senior students. |
Schools of nursing have used computer simulation to facilitate the development of critical thinking skills, and recent advances in technology have greatly enhanced the capability of human patient simulators (HPS) to duplicate the types of scenarios that students are likely to encounter in clinical practice. HPS allows replication of a clinical unit while offering a safe alternative to practicing in the real-world situation, which is integral in the clinical education. Further, students can safely practice decision-making skills in a controlled environment. Simulation is incorporated through the use of the HPS with all nursing students with the philosophy that by re-creating these real world situations and allowing students to practice in a safe environment, critical thinking skills and, therefore, clinical competence, will be greatly enhanced thus positively impacting patient safety.
Innovative simulation technology is now being implemented across the curriculum with both undergraduate and graduate students at the Robert Morris University School of Nursing and Health Sciences. The state of the art simulation laboratory is equipped with laptops for each student, internet access, bedside computers, mannequins, and a Laerdal SimMan human patient simulator (HPS).