Creating Practice Opportunities for Culturally Appropriate Care Through Simulation

AIMS: Create an opportunity for undergraduate nursing students to practice culturally appropriate evidence-based communication in a high fidelity patient simulation (HFPS) lab. Ensure all students have an opportunity to practice screening and brief intervention skills they may not otherwise encounter in clinical rotations. Provide teaching strategies promoting achievement of quality patient outcomes for diverse populations in a safe and controlled environment.

METHODS: After attending classroom training in the screening and brief intervention evidence-based practice (EBP) model, nursing students participated in culturally diverse simulation lab case scenarios.  Scenarios based on psychiatric-mental health nursing and medical surgical nursing concepts incorporated normal and abnormal physiologic and psychiatric conditions of culturally diverse patients that students may not have encountered in clinical practice. The simulations were videotaped allowing students to critique their performance and debrief.   The HFPS lab education strategy permitted students to practice clinical decision-making without jeopardizing patient safety and increased professional cultural competence through hands-on application, repetition, and debriefing exercises.

RESULTS: Students exhibited the ability to translate and utilize the EBP model in the classroom. Students exhibited an increased awareness of their own cultural identity and need for culturally-competent patient care. Cultural competency evaluation results and debriefing themes will be presented.

IMPLICATIONS: Developing culturally appropriate patient care strategies is an integral component of nursing education. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) reported that communication issues were the root cause of approximately 65% of nearly 3,000 sentinel events identified within the past 10 years. Communication failures are increasingly implicated as factors influencing patient safety and adverse patient outcomes. Effective nurse-patient communication has been shown to improve quality health outcomes, patient compliance and satisfaction. The HFPS lab experience provided students with a safe environment to practice skills furthering proficiency and increasing comfort in provision of culturally appropriate care to diverse patient populations.