LAUSR

Background Clinical simulations are gaining more attention in healthcare education. Simulation in nursing education provides students and nurses, the ability to create realistic clinical scenarios, develop effective technical and non-technical skills, and practice rare emergency and problem-based clinical situations.1 Professional and regulatory organizations have begun to accept simulation assubstitution for some clinical placements.2 Though simulation based education (SBE) is expanding, more rigorous research is needed to validate this pedagogy and assess its acceptance among educators. Summary of Work The study aims to assess theperception of nurse educators on SBEbefore and after a faculty development program. A two day workshop on simulation was conducted for 50 nurse educators from 15institutions in India to enhance their competence in applying SBE to achieve learning objectives. The day one schedule had theoretical session on basics of simulation and debriefing, demonstration session on SBE, small group simulation activity on communication, history collection and management of cardiac arrest. On the second day participants were divided into six groups to develop skill to create simulation scenarios, prepare and implement SBE sessions followed by debrief and feedback.Data on perception towards SBE were collected at two points; beginning and end of the workshop using a 26 item self-administered 5-point Likert scale, graded from strongly disagree to strongly agree.Higher score indicated higher level of perception. Summary of Results Out of 50 participants, 10 were educators in hospital and 40 were faculty in nursing colleges. The pretest and posttest mean± SD score of perception on SBE was 101.00 ± 8.94 and 116.92 ± 10.78 respectively. The 12 hours FDP significantly increased the perception of educators on SBE (Mean difference=15.92, paired t value=14.30, P=0.001). Significant difference in percentage increase from pretest to posttest were seen in these items: SBE improves patient safety (52%), makes learning easier (58%), develops clinical skills (64%), minimizes stressful learning environment (60%) and better than bedside teaching (46%). Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendation Nurse educators are responsible to prepare competent nurses for future. Today, with technology playing a prominent role, nurse educators must be equipped with updated skills in simulation. When using simulation, high positive teacher perceptions are necessary for successful incorporation of this pedagogy in the curriculum. Participants’ feedback indicates that workshop enhanced educators’ competence to incorporate SBE in nursing. This study has provided substantiation that FDPs will enhance the perception related to SBE and generate receptiveness of educators to integrate simulation in nursing curriculum. References Fanning RM, Gaba DM. The role of debriefing in simulation-based learning. Simul Healthcare 2007; Summer;2(2):115–125. doi:10.1097/SIH.0b013e3180315539 Watson K, Wright A, Morris N, McMeeken J, Rivett D, Blackstock F, et al. Can simulation replace part of clinical time? Two parallel randomised controlled trials. Medical Education 2012;46(7):657–67. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.2012.04295.x.