Description/Overview: The Simulated Hospital Day (SHD) meets the needs of healthcare students and consumers in an era of economic and healthcare reform uncertainty. Our multicultural and multifaceted border region is in critical need of collaborative and integrative approaches to healthcare systems. The SHD is able to meet many of these needs. These include unique cultural, spiritual, social, and contextual factors characteristic of the region. During the four hour simulation, students (25) provide all the care for the live “patient”. Skills include performing real time assessments, medication administration, therapeutic communication, and other procedures and documentation. “Patients” (25 nursing students) are provided with scripts via a laptop computer that adjust every 30 minutes. This real-time flexibility allows for inclusion of multiple realistic and real-life issues that are commonly encountered in clinical settings. Scenarios can address health literacy, language barriers, health beliefs, and regional “hot topics” such as community issues or emerging health priorities. SHD is of particular value in today’s healthcare economy, as it capitalizes on high fidelity simulation while including live “patient” interaction. This provides an optimal training experience, and promotes effective utilization of fiscal, student, faculty, and community resources. Prior to clinical placement, faculty can directly monitor and supervise five students simultaneously in a simulated hospital environment. They are thus able to observe what students can do safely and competently while determining areas in which they need additional training prior to clinical placement. The supervision of five students simultaneously optimizes faculty/student interaction and capitalizes on “real-time” response with the entire group. A key component of the SHD is interprofessional collaboration among the following disciplines: nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy, social work, nurse practitioners, clinical lab, physical therapy assistants and medical technicians. This interprofessional team must address the holistic needs of the patient.

Learner Objective #1: Examine the ways that the Simulated Hospital Day approach could maximize your ability to respond to the healthcare needs of a multicultural population.

Learner Objective #2: Compare the cost of the Simulated Hospital Day approach to your current training practices.