Description/Overview: This symposium will present a groundbreaking approach to the use of simulation to better prepare students for nursing practice in the real world. Using space industry techniques, the researchers designed a simulated hospital environment with nursing students as patient actors, a well-designed script incorporating feedback from employers, and a simulated eight bed nursing unit to create a high fidelity integrated experience for nursing students. The simulation required management of multiple patient care scenarios involving patients with complex medical-surgical conditions that changed over time. Undergraduate students were expected to provide care and anticipate and respond to patient care situations as nurses would during typical hospital shifts on continuous days and nights. Graduate nurse practitioner students acted as providers for the simulated patients, managing the primary and acute care of the patients. Upon completion of each shift and at completion of the simulation, debriefs were conducted by the researchers. Almost 100 students participated in the project, including PhD students who wrote the simulation script and assisted in implementing the simulation. Results indicated that the simulation was highly successful in exercising the critical skills necessary for nursing practice and that it has value for all levels of nursing education, while focusing primarily on undergraduate students. Student and faculty evaluations of the simulation experience were overwhelmingly positive. One student, graduating later that month, said that the experience was better than all clinical experiences she had in the nursing curriculum. This approach can be implemented in any nursing education setting with or without the need for expensive technology, such as simulator manikins. Nursing schools in any part of the world can use these techniques to better prepare students for the realities of nursing practice. These presentations will outline the basic concept and design, implementation, and implications of this integrated simulation.

Learner Objective #1: Discuss the global applications of the simulated hospital environment for nursing education.

Learner Objective #2: Describe the process for designing a simulated hospital environment.