Standardizing the Standardized Student

Background: For nurses transitioning to a clinical faculty role, the use of simulation to develop teaching skills is emerging as an effective strategy. The International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) design standards require role standardization of actors involved in simulation scenarios to ensure reliability and consistency of the experience. Although the standardized patient role has become an accepted best practice, and resources for standardized patient actors are plentiful, the role of standardized students and associated resources for the role are not easily accessible.

Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to review evidence related to using standardized students in clinical teaching scenarios, share examples of scenarios incorporating standardized students that have been developed from best practice resources, and describe use of the NLN Jeffries Simulation Theory to standardize terminology and organize outcome data.

Methods: Teaching scenarios that include participants acting in the role of undergraduate nursing students are described in the healthcare literature (Forcina Hill, Woodley, & Goodwin 2018; Hunt, Curtis, & Gore, 2015; Shellenbarger & Edwards, 2012). However, the descriptions do not provide specific details or guidelines related to standardization of the student role, and therefore limit the ability to consistently incorporate standardized students across programs or evaluate simulation outcomes. The student adds an extra layer of complexity to simulation scenarios, and therefore standardization of the role is critical for consistency of the learning experience of the novice nurse educator.

Using comprehensive best practice resources (Schram & Nicholas, 2018) we have developed teaching scenarios that include scripts and directions for student actors, standardized student profiles, and standardized student training.

Simulation scenarios include a nursing student medication error in a hospital setting, an unprepared nursing student in preconference, and a student failing a skill in a high stakes evaluation. Examples of a developed scenario with script, student profile data sheets,and preparation instructions for the standardized student will be linked to Certified Academic Clinical Nurse Educator (CNE^® cl) competencies.

Results: The need for a theoretical framework to provide consistent terminology and the ability to compare outcomes across simulation studies was highlighted in a scoping review of what is known about the use of simulation to develop clinical teaching skills in nursing and other health educators (Authors, 2018). The NLN Jeffries Simulation Theory identifies key variables for research, providing an important pathway to building a body of comparative evidence related to using simulation to developing teaching skills in clinical nurse educators.

Conclusion: Use of standardized students, paired with The NLN Jeffries Simulation Theory (Jeffries, 2016) to standardize terminology and allow comparison of outcomes across studies, is essential for building a body of comparative evidence related to using simulation to develop teaching skills in clinical nurse educators.