Chosen to Participate in a Landmark, Study to Examine the Use of Simulation in Nursing Education by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing 

 

 

Lancaster General College is one of 10 schools chosen by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN®) to participate in a landmark, national, multi-site study of simulation use in prelicensure nursing programs. Beginning in the fall of 2011, the NCSBN Simulation Study will monitor incoming nursing students from Lancaster General College from their first day of nursing school through graduation, into their first year of practice.

The NCSBN Simulation Study aims to highlight currently known best practices in simulation use; evaluate the learning occurring with various amounts of simulation substituting for clinical hours; establish key simulation standards and learning experiences in each core clinical course during the study; and evaluate new graduates’ ability to translate educational experiences into the workplace. To achieve these objectives, students from each of the 10 study sites will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: a group where up to 10 percent of the time normally spent at clinical sites will be spent in simulation, a group where 25 percent of the time normally spent at clinical sites will be spent in simulation or a group where 50 percent of the time normally spent at clinical sites will be spent in simulation.

“The Division of Nursing at Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences (LGCNHS) welcomes this opportunity to contribute to the field of nursing education and enhance the connections between LGCNHS and other colleges of nursing across the country. Additionally, it is an honor to be considered a leader among Colleges offering advanced clinical learning with state-of-the-art simulation. The nursing faculty at LGCNHS embraces simulated learning experiences and values its importance in providing a safe, controlled environment for students to practice and refine their clinical and critical thinking skills and decision making ability. The outcomes of this project will provide significant benefits to our students and to the field of nursing education over the long-term as we strive to prepare and educate competent professional nurses.”

NCSBN will monitor students from five associate degree nursing programs and five baccalaureate degree nursing programs throughout the U.S. The NCSBN Simulation Study will be managed by a Study Team from each study site.

All 10 Study Teams will meet three times over the course of the next six months to learn about facilitating simulation, debriefing techniques, and using assessment tools and ratings. Study teams will also establish the curriculum that all study sites will utilize over the next two years based on results from a national curriculum survey that was sent to clinicians and nursing schools. The first of these meetings took place in Chicago, Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2010.

Study Teams will monitor students daily, upon completion of each clinical course, after one year in the nursing program, upon graduation and finally, one year postgraduation. The research gathered by the Study Teams will be reported to NCSBN, which will assess nursing knowledge, clinical competence and student satisfaction with the education they received.

It is important for the study to continue one year postgraduation to evaluate how well new graduate nurses are able to apply the knowledge they have acquired during nursing school to their practice as new nurses, providing the missing link that has not been studied in previous simulation studies. Researchers will examine and compare clinical and simulation experiences, competencies and level of practice. The follow-up of graduates into their first year of practice will focus on retention of new nurses and clinical judgment after graduation.

College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN

Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS

Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Lancaster, PA

 

Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley, Kansas City, MO

Florida International University, FL

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS

Washington State University, Spokane, WA

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is a not-for-profit organization whose members include the boards of nursing in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories — American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands. There are also seven associate members. Mission: NCSBN provides education, service and research through collaborative leadership to promote regulatory excellence for patient safety and public protection.

 

Updated 06/13/11