The National Council State Board of Nursing Simulation Study’s conclusion that up to 50% of traditional clinical experiences can be substituted with simulation sessions (Hayden, Smiley, Alexander, Kardong-Edgren, & Jeffries, 2014) and the National League for Nursing’s call to all nursing education administrators and educators to standardize simulation education and debriefing practices (National League for Nursing [NLN], 2015a; NLN, 2015b; NLN, 2015c) has initiated the strategic planning process for a Diploma Level Nursing School in an urban setting in September 2015. Their strategic plan to use evidence-based and standardized simulation practices to prepare safe graduate nurses (QSEN, 2014) requires intensive and careful analysis of the institution’s mission, vision, strengths and weaknesses. The Strength-Weakness-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis guided the administrators in this process (Liu, 2017). Incorporating high quality simulation sessions in the curriculum requires standardized simulation activities and debriefing sessions, highly qualified faculty to facilitate them, and a realistic simulation environment, to name a few. Differences in faculty facilitation of simulation sessions and debriefing styles can be a limitation in achieving the most desirable student learning outcomes during and after evidence-based simulation learning activities.
Methods:
The School’s administration and faculty created a three-year strategic plan after a SWOT analysis of their program where an ad hoc simulation committee, spearheaded by the assistant dean, was created. The ad hoc committee oversaw the implementation of the strategic plan, which involved revising the School’s simulation standards, developing and implementing a mandatory five (5) continuing education credit simulation course, implementing an in-house “Debriefing Competency Assessment”, and incorporating the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) (Muthamilselvi, G., & Vadivukkarasi Ramanadin, P., 2014) to assess clinical skills. A big part of the plan was grant writing to obtain funds to upgrade their simulation technology and to finance the required simulation activities.
Results:
To date, the School’s Standards in Simulation has been printed and distributed to all faculty and staff, Nine (9) Mandatory Simulation Courses were presented with a total attendance of 120 faculty and staff, thirty five (35) standardized patients trained, sixty (60) faculty successfully passing the Debriefing Competency, and eight (8) nursing skills converted to an OSCE-based testing. Elements that supported the overall plan included the upgrade of simulation technology, incorporation of electronic charting, and utilization of portable medication carts to keep up with the demands of the ever-changing technology in nursing education and healthcare.
Conclusion:
The implementation of these evidence-based simulation practices was well received by students and faculty. Student and course evaluations, since the standardization of simulation practices in September 2015, have shown increased satisfaction on simulation-based learning. This article is meant to share this School’s strategic planning stages and implementation processes, including challenges, to realize the best practice simulation standards with the full philosophical and financial support of its administration.