(72) Elevating learner preparedness for specialty care settings

Abstract : Various assessments found many prelicensure nursing students entering clinical settings with specialized populations such as obstetrics and pediatrics unprepared to navigate these environments. To address this gap, a specialty skills day and two scaffolding high-fidelity simulation sessions were implemented to better prepare learners for entry-level practice. These sessions integrated Healthcare Standards of Best Practice: Facilitation and Kolb’s Experiential Learning theory to create patient context-based simulation activities.

Approximately 320 prelicensure nursing students per year engage in simulation for obstetrics and pediatrics. During the procedural simulation for these courses, students practice skills under 3 domains: assessments, medication administration, and communication. Pilot data is being collected utilizing a survey pre- and post- simulation along with qualitative feedback from participants and facilitators. Primary facilitators for this session are in a unique clinical education role, dividing their time equally between simulation learning and clinical site education. This enabled instructors to directly observe the impact of sessions on confidence and readiness in the clinical setting.

After the procedural simulation day, based on initial pilot data, student confidence increased between 15-36% across all measured skills, most significantly in assessment activities. Qualitatively, obstetrics and pediatric clinical education faculty found that students demonstrated higher confidence and preparedness for clinical when students had their sessions before experiencing clinicals. ​

The results of this project will help inform clinical educators in preparing prelicensure students for clinical confidence and readiness to care for patients in the specialty population setting. Implications will be further developed following the conclusion of data collection.

Please include a short summary of your presentation that highlights why an attendee would want to participate in your session.: To bridge the readiness gap for prelicensure nursing students in specialized clinical settings such as obstetrics and pediatrics, multimodality simulation was utilized. This integrated best practice standards and experiential learning into procedural simulation and scaffolding high-fidelity simulation. Initial data indicates improvement in student confidence and enhanced clinical readiness.