High-Fidelity Simulation in an Undergraduate Ambulatory Care Nursing Course

Abstract

For a new ambulatory care nursing course in an undergraduate baccalaureate program, a standardized patient simulation was created to support the clinical component of the course. The goals were for students to enhance their critical thinking skills, apply the nursing process to an ambulatory setting, apply learned skills to the non-acute care setting, and increase their confidence. The simulation format included three stations: skills refresher, telehealth, and clinic. Volunteers from faculty, clinical preceptors, and nursing management acted as clients for the mock clinical settings. Feedback was positive and supported this simulation as an educational option.

Commentary: Improving Primary Care Through an Innovative Academic-Practice Partnership Including Baccalaureate Nursing Student-Based Telehealth Competencies

“…We highly recommend primary care academic-practice partnerships offer nursing students opportunities to participate in telehealth activities. Practicum gains include appreciation for health inequities, collaborative practice, communication without visual cues and with commitment to clinical decision support tools such as dashboards, evidence-based protocols, conversation scripts to promote consistent and high-quality care, and client satisfaction 10…”

“…Practicum gains include appreciation for health inequities, collaborative practice, communication without visual cues and with commitment to clinical decision support tools such as dashboards, evidence-based protocols, conversation scripts to promote consistent and high-quality care, and client satisfaction. 10 Additional lessons learned included needs for: (1) the PDSA quality improvement framework to guide the development and evolution of telehealth clinical experiences; (2) standardized volunteers (eg, faculty and family members) to play the roles of clients during telehealth orientations and simulations; (3) the sequencing of students' telehealth experiences within the curriculum beginning with health promotion and advancing to disease management; (4) just-in-time training for students and less-experienced faculty including practice with standardized conversation scripts; (5) computerbased video connections to optimize the quality of telehealth interactions; (6) EHR documentation templates tailored to specific episodes of care; and (7) frequent communications between partners facilitated by designated representatives.…”