Development and Use of the Simulation Culture Organizational Readiness Survey (SCORS)

The use of simulation in nursing education and in clinical practice has grown dramatically over the past several years. The release of findings from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s landmark simulation study (Hayden, et al., 2014) may be the catalyst to further increase use of simulation as results showed that up to 50% of clinical time could be replaced with simulation if specific conditions were met. This may be a crucial part of the answer to the ongoing challenges of lack of adequate clinical sites, restrictions that prevent students from participating in certain tasks or skills on the clinical floors, and the inability to ensure appropriate patient assignments correlated to the level of student ability to provide care.

However, despite the increase in simulation acceptance as a teaching/learning strategy, there continues to be widespread reports of organizations that have acquired simulator equipment only to have it remain in unopened boxes, stored in closets, or sit unused in laboratory space. There are many theories about why this happens but overall, a failure to ensure that an organization is ready to make this commitment is often the root cause.  

The presenters gained permission from Drs. Fineout-Overholt and Melnyk to adapt the Organizational Culture and Readiness for System-wide Integration of Evidence-based Practice Survey^ã (2014) to a survey that examines readiness to integrate simulation-based education. Permission was also granted to adapt items from the TeamSTEPPS Readiness Assessment (AHRQ, 2015). The resulting tool, the Simulation Culture Organizational Readiness Survey (SCORS), was validated by an expert panel of simulation educators and researchers. The SCORS has four subscales and a total of 25 items that are answered using a 5-point Likert scale. Scoring guidelines provide a method to help interpret overall score and item scores. A guidebook was developed for users and provides information to help the participant best respond to each item.

This presentation is designed to briefly share the development process for the tool, but more importantly, to help the audience understand why it is vital to address organizational readiness prior to instituting a major curricular change such as integrating simulation, as well as the necessity of addressing logistical challenges before the change is implemented. With thoughtful consideration of organizational culture, readiness for change, and ability to support change, organizations may be more successful when integrating simulation-based learning into their programs.