LAUSR

T heuseof themultiple patient simulation (MPS) experience has grown in nursing education as one strategy to help close the education-practice gap and better prepare nursing students for the reality of hospital practice. The evidence demonstrating a need for an educational strategy to bridge this gap is well documented. When evaluating new nursing graduate performance, frontline nurse leaders identified weakness in performance of all 36 competencies deemed essential for safe and effective care, with several causing the most concern: recognition of changes in patient status, taking initiative, tracking multiple responsibilities, the ability to prioritize and anticipate risk, and delegation of tasks. Similarly, Theisen and Sandau identified 6 competencies that were deficient in new graduates: communication, leadership, organization, critical thinking, and stress management. Beroz had comparable results when evaluating students in an MPS experience; students focus on tasks and display poor delegation, prioritization, and communication skills when dealing with multiple patients who have many needs. A later integrative review of the evidence summed up the issues with new graduate performance: a preparationpractice gap exists, the gap is expensive, and it will require changes in education and orientation to practice to improve new graduate performance. One strategy for nursing education is to move beyond the traditional clinical experience of caring for 1 patient to caring formultiple patients aswouldbe required in the clinical setting. Nursing faculty face challenges in providing students with multiple patient assignments that mirror the experienceofthenewRNbecauseof lowfaculty-to-studentratios,