The Utilization of Intra-Professional Collaboration in Simulation Among Junior and Senior Nursing Students

Between the years of 2012 and 2022, it is predicted that there will be a need for more than 500,000 nurses to replace retiring nurses (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). Due to this projected shortage, nursing programs are encouraged to admit more students but because of a shortage of qualified nursing faculty, limited clinical locations, and budget restrictions, students are being turned away (American Association of College of Nurses, 2014). Simulation has been identified as an innovative strategy for students to gain clinical experiences in a safe learning environment and has been incorporated into clinical as a teaching model to address these types of issues. NYU College of Nursing developed a new clinical teaching model using simulation for 50 percent of clinical time as well as 50 percent of hospital based clinical time (Richardson, Goldsamt, Simmons, Gilmartin, & Jeffries, 2014).

The purpose of this study is to implement and evaluate a clinical teaching model design that will assist with the increase in student enrollment, the limitation of clinical teaching sites, and limited number of nursing faculty. Another purpose is to explore nursing students’ perceptions on intra-professional simulations.

The participants of the study are junior and senior level college nursing students enrolled in Medical-Surgical and Management clinicals at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Students attend three different simulation rotations during the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semesters. Each rotation on these days encompasses four different simulations. Simulation experiences focus on medical-surgical, critical care, management, and leadership concepts. At the end of each simulation scenario, the students participate in a debriefing sessions. At the end of each simulation day, students answer NCLEX style review questions related to the topics used in the simulations. Following each simulation rotation, students are asked to complete a survey related to the simulation experience with a focus on the collaboration between the different levels of nursing.

This is an ongoing study and data has not been analyzed yet. However, positive comments have been made regarding this clinical teaching model. The goal of the clinical teaching model is to promote collaboration, teamwork, development of communication and leadership skills, delegation, and prioritization of care.