Abstract:

Medical simulation has been widely incorporated into all levels of nursing education. The incorporation of sophisticated and physiologically accurate human patient simulators (HPS) has added a valuable dimension to clinical training by providing students with a safe, life-like, environment to practice skills without risk to the patient. For many nursing students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science Nursing program, the junior year nursing pharmacology course poses a significant challenge. While traditionally a didactic course, we felt that nursing students may deepen their understanding of pharmacology through the use of simulated cases. Two challenging topics that could be accurately simulated in a HPS, autonomic pharmacology and hemodynamic support, were selected and integrated into the existing nursing pharmacology curriculum. Students attended the associated didactic lecture prior to completing each HPS-based lab. After completion of both didactic lessons and HPS-based labs students were tested with a multiple format exam. When compared to students in other nursing pharmacology sections, students enrolled in the didactic/HPS-based lab section had improved exam scores. Improved understanding of the interplay between physiology and pharmacology was noted in written answers. Our experience with this group of nursing pharmacology students suggests that direct observation of physiologic responses to a drug results in improved understanding of drug response. Based upon this experience, we plan to further integrate HPS-based labs into the nursing pharmacology curriculum.

Keywords:

Human patient simulation, nursing, pharmacology.