Simulation to support learning

Simulation is an approach to teaching and learning that is gaining greater emphasis within nurse education. Children are not merely small versions of adults and therefore the skills needed by those who care for them need to be acquired in appropriate settings.

For child nursing students this can be a particular problem, given the limited opportunities for placements in specific children's areas during training. Other ways are needed to help these students gain confidence in skills they will need when caring for children. One such approach is through simulated learning.

The Sim baby can be pre-programmed to give student nurses practice in monitoring the mannequin's functions just as they would monitor a child's in a real-life situation. It gives students real-time data on the symptoms the mannequin displays, which can be programmed to evolve in ways that mimic medical conditions.

Benefits

• Offers a strategy for learning and assessment to enhance clinical competence.
• Enables a learning environment to be created that is interactive and mirrors, as far as possible, the real-life clinical situation.
• Supporting the learner to plan, act, evaluate and re-conceptualise a situation to leading changes in behaviour and personal values.

Find out more

Visit the Canterbury University's website for more information.