Nursing simulations are teaching methods that use realistic scenarios and hands-on interactive exercises to replicate clinical experiences. While shadowing another nurse can offer hands-on experiences for students, it can also cause patient discomfort and inconsistencies in learning. This is why Nursing Simulations have created a more comfortable and rounded education for Nursing Students. Sim2Grow helps to move the evolution of teaching nurses forward.
Before simulation-based learning, student nurses learned by watching and assisting more experienced nurses and then performing the procedure themselves on actual patients. Basically, it was apprenticeship and on-the-job training. This may have been an accepted practice in the infancy of healthcare, but it was recognized that it needed to be leveled up!
Simulation in nursing education started with rudimentary simulators introduced as new procedures were used in patient care. For example, a piece of fruit (the noble orange comes to mind) was often used as an injection task trainer. “Mrs. Chase,” from the early 1910s, was the first “life-sized” doll used in nursing programs to simulate a patient for positioning and basic skills such as bathing, dressing wounds, etc.
Sim2Grow is dedicated to helping educators provide realistic training for the critical skill of safe medication administration. Medication errors are a leading cause of patient harm in hospitals. As a result, many clinical sites restrict clinical instructors from passing medications with students during clinical rotations, which reduces hands-on experience.
With Sim2Grow, students can repeatedly practice medication administration in a safe lab environment. This allows them to learn from their mistakes in a controlled setting and avoid errors once they graduate, making everyone safer.
In the past, simulating medication administration practice was straightforward for nurse educators. However, introducing the Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA) in the early 2000s and automated dispensing cabinets for unit dose dispensing have created new challenges. Using a paper Medication Administration Record (MAR) and drawers from an old nursing home medication cart in the practice lab no longer mirrors the clinical environment that students will encounter.
Unfortunately, the complex technology used in hospitals was neither affordable nor practical for training environments. As a result, we continued teaching with outdated paper MARs, sometimes using a spare barcode scanner. Students mimicked the process by saying “beep beep” and reciting the steps instead of performing them in the practice lab. Educators had to rely on clinical site exposure to reinforce this critical skill adequately.
Low-fidelity manikin models like Mrs. Chase have been around for quite a while. They are a much safer and ethically acceptable way for student nurses to practice than on actual patients! With every passing year, human patient simulator manikins have more features, making them realistic replicas for preparing students before caring for hospitalized patients.
https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-different-simulations-in-nursing
Many DIY simulation solutions are simple… yet still able to meet learning objectives. Creative educators willing to try and test their solutions have enhanced student experiences over the years. Often, the rudimentary innovations end up being the first iterations of today’s standard simulation equipment.
In the past, when learning the steps of a safe med pass, nursing students often received mixed messages, leading to confusion. In the practice lab, phrases like “this isn’t exactly how they do it nowadays in the hospital” and “just pretend” were commonly heard. Students new to the process had to imagine what they should do instead of gaining the hands-on experience needed to build muscle memory. This situation understandably led to confusion and increased the likelihood of errors. Educators were also frustrated because they were searching for an elusive tool. They spent countless hours trying to jerry-rig something close to the experience to give students adequate practice before they cared for patients.
Simulation-based learning is the “way of the future.” It is no longer acceptable that the first time a nurse performs a procedure is on an actual patient. Practicing in the simulation lab beforehand allows them to go into the procedure with confidence and experience. This eases the nerves of the nurse and the patient, making for a much smoother process.
Realism will likely increase further as simulation-based learning technologies advance, creating new opportunities for measuring learner skill progression. Augmented and virtual reality with immersive and haptic feedback are some technologies that may bring changes. Manikins' ability to move their extremities and leverage AI to be more conversational will allow learners to have more buy-in when participating in simulations.
https://www.sim2grow.com/en-us/blog/top-5-reasons-to-use-simulation-in-nursing-education