Healthcare Simulation as a Global Nursing Education Strategy

Learning in nursing education has been often in an apprenticeship model. There are opportunities to learn and practice in the clinical setting but they are inconsistent and it is a haphazard way to learn. Healthcare simulation has been in existence for several decades and over the past ten years has become a common educational tool used across the globe to improve the skills of nurses and other healthcare professionals (Palaganas, Maxworthy, Epps & Mancini, 2014). Simulation education can be used as the bridge between classroom didactic learning and real-life clinical experiences. Simulation offers the opportunity to provide organized, scheduled, valuable learning experiences that are often challenging to obtain in real life. During these experiences learners address hands-on and thinking skills, including knowledge-in-action, procedures, decision-making, and effective communication. These environments allow learners to make mistakes without causing patient harm. By seeing the outcomes of their mistakes, learners gain powerful insight into the consequences of their actions and the need to get it right. By providing the learner the opportunity to practice their skills in a safe, non-punitive environment there is a hope that when/if the activity they have practiced actually occurs in real life, they are better prepared to respond quickly and appropriately because of the training they have received. The world of nursing education has been evolving with the addition of simulation as an effective teaching modality (Rutherford-Hemming, Lioce & Durham, 2015). How healthcare simulation has been implemented across the globe has been varied due to access to resources (Jeffries & Battin, 2012). However, there are opportunities to collaborate to ensure learners have the ability to practice skills in a safe environment prior to touching patients.

This presentation will provide an overview of the basic tenets of healthcare simulation. The presenter will provide an overview of experiential learning theory (Kolb) so that the participants understand this foundational aspect of healthcare simulation (Poore, Cullen & Schaar, 2014). The learners will also receive an overview of the phases of a simulation experience which include the pre-brief, the actual simulation and the debrief to provide them an understanding of best practices of the simulation educational experience/activity. The final area that will be covered will be a sharing of examples across the globe of how it has been utilized to improve the health of its communities (Kim & Kim, 2017; Perez, Patel & Cuff, 2015).