Using a multi-faceted simulation experience to prepare graduate nurses for primary care practice

Ainslie, Marcy

Monday, 18 November 2013

Marcy Ainslie, BA, BS, MS, APRN
Susan Feeney, BS, MS, APRN
William Carbonneau, BS, MS, DNP, APRN
Susan Murphy, BS, MS, Ph.D, APRN
Division of Nursing, Rivier University, Nashua, NH

Learning Objective 1: 1. The learner will be able to utilize simulation modalities to develop foundational clinical reasoning skills in advance practice nurses in preparation for clinical practice.

Learning Objective 2: 2. The learner will be able to introduce simulation strategies into graduate level nursing courses in effort to provide opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge.

The demand for advanced practice, graduate level nursing is growing worldwide. The environment in which these graduate level nurses will engage is growing more complex. Preparing students for such complexities, including ethnic diversity, increased comorbidities, and access to care, has to be a part of the educational process. Simulation presents close to real life scenarios in a standardized, safe, controlled setting that demands application of student clinical reasoning. It is a low risk environment in which to prepare advanced practice nursing students for the awaiting work place.

While simulation is rapidly becoming a standard instructional methodology in undergraduate nursing or basic nursing, there has been little exploration on using simulation in the education of the advanced practice primary care practitioner or graduate level nurse. In effort to address three common challenges faced by graduate nursing faculty: early identification of students in need of extra support in learning, difficulty finding appropriate clinical placement sites, and standardizing the clinical educational experience, we piloted a comprehensive simulation experience for novice family nurse practitioner students. Using standardized patients, high fidelity manikins, and simulation software programs, students completed a faculty supervised simulation experience to establish foundational clinical skills and knowledge and to qualify for progression into clinical placement. Preceptors receiving these students in their following semester, students and faculty provided overwhelmingly positive feedback. Research to establish best practice standards for simulation in the education of advanced practice nurses is in process as a result of this pilot program.

The simulation experience provided opportunity for students to apply the clinical guidelines and evidenced based practices delivered previously only in theory. The case scenarios utilized can be tailored to represent the cultural beliefs and norms of the local environment. This novel teaching modality will help to build our workforce of primary care practitioners.

See more of: Evidence-Based Practice Posters Session 2
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