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Department

Comprehensive Clinical Care

Position/Job Title

Program Manager

Description

Background: Simulation-based training is an essential component of education for bedside nurses; simulation can include procedural skills and complex nursing assessments and interventions (Tsiouris et al., 2024). High fidelity simulations have been shown to improve professional nurses’ self-confidence (Guerrero, Ali, & Atallah, 2022). Based on the organization’s annual learning needs assessment, nurses identified their preferred method of education was through hands-on, simulation-based educational offerings. Purpose/Aim: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to increase nurses’ knowledge of critical care concepts, while increasing confidence implementing advanced nursing skills within their patient population through tailored simulation-based training. Methods: The Plan, Do, Check, Act Cycle was the theoretical framework for this quality improvement project. The clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) and staff development educators outlined low-volume, high-risk clinical scenarios to include the organization’s annual requirements in addition to patient population specific competencies. The intervention included two separate simulations (thirty minutes each including debrief) tailored to required competencies based on progressive or critical care population. Following the simulations, the staff completed interactive, hands-on demonstration with equipment specific to their area. In addition to simulation, hands-on demonstration, and discussion the staff were provided with reference guides for nursing therapies. The sample included nurses (bedside nurses, clinical unit leaders, unit managers, house shift managers) and technical care associates (TCAs) on progressive and critical care units. Pre-and post-surveys were completed assessing the nurses’ and TCAs level of confidence, knowledge, and effectiveness of simulation-based training compared to passive learning modalities. Results: Post-surveys (n= 158) demonstrated a 17.6% increase in staff feeling extremely confident caring for their specific patient population compared to pre-survey (n= 165). Results demonstrated a 20.7% increase in staff feeling very knowledgeable caring for their specific patient population. Post-surveys demonstrated that 97% of staff felt all or most of the topics applied to their specialty area. Finally, compared to previous years’ annual competency training 97.2% of staff preferred this immersive education and competency validation (see Figure 1, “N/A” represents staff who had not experienced the traditional competency validation of previous years).

Publication Date

4-15-2025

Keywords

Henry Ford Jackson Hospital Research Symposium, nursing, quality improvement

In Our Simulation Era: Transitioning from Passive to Immersive Training

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