School of Nursing Celebrates Healthcare Simulation Week
Lee University’s School of Nursing celebrated Healthcare Simulation Week by hosting four different events on campus, Sept. 18-22.
“Healthcare Simulation Week 2023 offered a moment to stop and reflect on the vital role of hands-on experience that our students are afforded while in the program,” said Shannon McBrayer, director of simulation and experiential learning and lecturer of nursing. “It is heartening to witness the students embrace the opportunities they have in the simulations and begin to realize the gravity of their opportunities here at Lee University Simulation Central!”
On Monday, nursing students participated in COPE, the Cost of Poverty Experience, hosted by United Way of Cleveland. The students in this simulation were able to experience what it is like to be a family living in poverty. The students were divided into family units and had to complete tasks given to them for “four weeks,” which were represented by four 15-minute rotations.
Throughout the week, food trucks from Sweet Caroline Cheesecakes and Moh Moh’s Asian Cuisine, along with other treats, were available on campus to celebrate the week’s events.
On Friday, senior nursing students took on roles as nurses in a complex obstetrical simulation, taking care of emergent deliveries, sick moms, and resuscitating a newborn.
“Simulation for me is the perfect learning opportunity,” said Abby Bayles, senior nursing major. “I have the space to work through a scenario and implement skills that I might not have the opportunity to do otherwise. I can make mistakes and learn from them and my peers without risking a negative patient outcome, which is priceless.”
Lee’s School of Nursing celebrates healthcare simulation every September through the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH).
“Healthcare simulation is one of the best ways for us to not only learn our hands-on skills but also the critical thinking aspect that’s necessary for nursing,” said Makena DeLuca, also a senior nursing major. “We get to practice in a safe environment without repercussions and then look at our mistakes to see how we can learn from them. I believe healthcare simulation is building our next generation of nurses to practice safely and effectively and is definitely something to celebrate.”
SSH serves a global community of practice enhancing healthcare quality and seeks to improve performance and reduce patient care errors through simulation. The organization fosters the improvement and application of simulation-based modalities such as human patient simulators, virtual reality, standardized patients, and task trainers. Recognizing that simulation represents a paradigm shift in healthcare education, SSH promotes improvements in simulation technology, educational methods, practitioner assessment, and patient safety that in turn promote better patient care and can improve patient outcome.
Simulation learning offers a range of easily accessible learning opportunities as well as the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them in a safe environment. Experiences can also be customized to the level of the learner, and detailed feedback and evaluation are available after the experience to show the learner the areas where they need improvement.
For more information about SSH, visit ssih.org/About-SSH.
For more information on Lee’s School of Nursing, visit leeuniversity.edu/academics/nursing/.
