Developing and Adopting a Simulation Faculty Credentialing Plan Presenter Information

The landmark National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Simulation Study laid groundwork for schools of nursing to increase the amount of simulation in the curriculum, and many schools have invested money and time in simulation equipment without establishing a standard simulation faculty orientation or a faculty credentialing plan.  The NCSBN recently published simulation guidelines (Alexander et al., 2015) which clearly outline faculty preparation for simulation and provide guidance for administrative support of simulation learning activities in prelicensure nursing programs.  Additionally, the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning has published standards of best practice for simulation, which provide guidelines for simulation facilitators and facilitation (INACSL, 2013).  Some state boards of nursing also provide advisory statements about simulation used for clinical hours (Arizona State Board of Nursing, 2015).  The purpose of this presentation is to describe the process for developing and adopting a simulation faculty credentialing plan in a baccalaureate prelicensure nursing program, including a discussion of challenges and opportunities from the faculty, administrative perspectives.

In our baccalaureate nursing program, faculty who attended a recent INACSL conference recognized the importance for developing a simulation faculty credentialing program.  Over six months, faculty outlined resources to increase their knowledge pertaining to simulation teaching and experiential learning activities to increase their competency and self-efficacy for simulation facilitation.  Faculty leaders presented a plan to administrators, the nursing leadership council, faculty governance committees, and the faculty assembly for formal approval.  The plan for simulation faculty credentialing focuses on a mentorship model through a formal program of didactic content, review of evidence, discussion about simulation cases, and live simulation practice.  The 18 month faculty development program includes activities faculty-specific simulation and activities with undergraduate nursing learners.  Elements of the simulation faculty credentialing plan incorporated learning theory and opportunities for reflection to foster performance improvement (Gantt, 2012).  The simulation faculty credentialing plan builds on a body of evidence from the NCSBN Simulation Study (Alexander et al., 2015; Hayden, Smiley, Alexander, Kardong-Edgren,, & Jeffries, 2014; Jeffries, Kardong-Edgren, & Hayden, 2015).   

At our university, nursing leadership council provided guidance for process evaluation pertaining to the simulation faculty credentialing plan.  Qualitative feedback from faculty governance committees helped with consensus building.  Themes related to use of best practice evidence for simulation and opportunities for experiential learning were most important to faculty leaders.  Our experience with developing and adopting a simulation faculty credentialing program provides an application of influencing change through leadership in our academic setting that responds to the current need for quality simulation teaching from a faculty, administrative, and regulatory perspective.