Jennifer Gunberg Ross

The Effect of Simulation Training on Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Competency in Performing Intramuscular Injection

&NA; This research study addressed BSN student competency in administering intramuscular injections with and without simulation training, and ability to transfer the skill from learning laboratory to patient care. There is a dearth of empirical evidence supporting simulation in psychomotor skill learning and transfer of these skills to patient care. A two‐group repeated measures pretest/posttest design with three measurement times was used. Scenario‐based simulation served as the intervention. All subjects were posttested in the learning laboratory and clinical settings. The experimental group had higher adjusted means at both posttesting times, though these results were not statistically significant.

Student-Centered Teaching Strategies to Integrate the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses Competency, Safety, Into a Nursing Course.

When the faculty in a 4-year baccalaureate nursing program revised the undergraduate curriculum, attention to quality care and patient safety was a critical consideration. Faculty integrated the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies across the curriculum and included quality care and patient safety among the areas of study identified as Core Nursing Knowledge in the Organizing Framework of the curriculum. Although the concept of safety had long been a component of the Essentials of Nursing Practice course, it was clear that the original safety content was dated and did not address the specifics of the QSEN competency of Safety as it pertains to the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) that students need to ensure patient safety within the current health care system. Essentials of Nursing Practice is a sophomore-level course that focuses on the evidence from nursing research that supports best practices related to patient care skills. The integration of updated safety content provided the impetus for the development and implementation of evidence-based teaching strategies that would actively engage students in learning. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and implementation of a semester-wide approach involving student-centered teaching strategies designed to foster nursing students’ KSAs related to the QSEN Competency of Safety. Background The need for reform in how health care professionals are educated became apparent in 2003 when the Institute of Medicine identified significant, system-wide concerns related to quality care and patient safety. In response to these concerns, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing identified 6 QSEN competencies, which provided a framework for preparing nurses for practice in an environment in which excellence is measured in terms of nurse-sensitive outcomes. To decrease the risk of harm to patients, nurses are expected to assume individual responsibility for patient safety and work in teams of health care professionals to create a ‘‘culture of safety.’’ Nursing programs are beginning to implement and study the effects of specific teaching strategies related to patient safety. However, more evidence is needed to support appropriate student-centered teaching strategies to integrate the concept of safety into prelicensure education and to provide nursing students with the KSAs necessary to care for patients within the existing safety culture in health care today.

Persons with Disability: Their Experiences as Standardized Patients in an Undergraduate Nursing Program

&NA; This descriptive qualitative study examined experiences of standardized patients with disabilities (SPWDs) in an undergraduate nursing program through focus group and telephone interviews. Content analysis identified five themes: 1) desire to improve care for others, 2) opportunity to be productive again, 3) joy in seeing students learn, 4) desire for more feedback on performance, and 5) importance of having SPWDs assess accessibility of the facility. SPWDs participated to improve sensitivity of students to disability and appreciated having a voice in educating future nurses. They requested more feedback on their performance and identified accessibility issues in the state‐of‐the‐art nursing school building.

Development of Formative Capstone Simulations to Prepare Novice Students for Initial Clinical Practicum.

BACKGROUND Nursing students often describe initial clinical experiences as extremely anxiety producing. Anxiety can decrease performance ability and, consequently, increase the risk for patient harm. Strategies to decrease this anxiety related to clinical experiences are limited within the nursing education literature. METHOD Faculty in a 4-year baccalaureate nursing program developed and implemented formative capstone simulation scenarios with standardized patients, integrating therapeutic communication, essential patient care skills, and clinical reasoning for novice nursing students prior to their entry into their first clinical practicum. This article discusses the rationale, development, and implementation of these formative capstone simulation scenarios. RESULTS Anecdotal student and faculty comments related to the formative capstone simulation scenarios were positive. CONCLUSIONS Formative capstone simulation scenarios offer a method to prepare novice students for initial clinical practicum that is well received. Research is needed to formally examine the relationship between formative capstone simulation scenarios and student anxiety related to initial clinical practicum. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(10):587-589.].

Effects of Active, Student-Centered Teaching Strategies on Nursing Students’ Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, and Comfort Related to Patient Safety

D riven by the Institute of Medicine’s call for transformation in health care professionals’ education, the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Institute led efforts to develop 6 competencies identifying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for graduate nurses to provide safe, quality care. To promote the transfer of learning into clinical practice, competencies related to patient safety should be incorporated early in nursing curricula using active teaching strategies that promote student engagement. There is a lack of empirical studies exploring the impact of theQSENsafety competencyonprelicensurenursing students’ outcomes. Only 1 study has explored knowledge and comfort related to patient safety among nursing students who received didactic and clinical integration of QSEN safety tools during a first-semester fundamentals course. Results from studies regarding student perceptions of preparedness related to patient safety vary. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of active, student-centered teaching strategies on baccalaureate nursing students’ knowledge, skills, perceptions, and comfort related to patient safety.