SPECIAL SESSION: Standardized Patients and Hybrid Simulation in Nursing Education: A New Promised Land for Research?

Description/Overview: Simulation is defined as a technique - not a technology – to amplify experiences that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive manner (Gaba 2004). It allows controlled and risk free encounters that replicate real life scenarios allowing students to learn rehearse and apply skills before transferring these to clinical practice (Morgan 2006). Simulation as an educational strategy is more and more widespread and used in pre-graduate graduate and post-graduate nursing education and evaluation. Cognitive research has revealed that learning is not necessarily an outcome of teaching. Effective learning is about the quality of students’ understanding rather than about the quantity of information presented by the teacher. Students understand well only what they practice doing. Simulation can help to foster this. Evidence is growing that well prepared simulations can increase students confidence, competency and reduce risk in clinical practice. Hence, new approaches in simulation teaching demonstrate real educational benefits for our students at the level of the development of their clinical skills as well as their critical and reflexive thinking. This presentation will focus on the use of standardized patients and hybrid simulations in higher education. Illustrated by a case study, it will explain and clarify best practice, state of science and opportunities for research on and with simulators.