Another student is selected to play the role of patient and will receive a script detailing what they will tell the nurse and the appropriate responses to a list of questions a nurse would ask. The remaining students in the class serve as a resource and may offer suggestions when asked by the four participants or when prompted by the instructor.
To prepare myself for the integration of role-playing simulations in a nursing education context, I would familiarize myself with patient role-playing scripts for a number of common treatment scenarios. This is important for when a student misdiagnoses a patient because the instructor is responsible for directing a patient response from the script in order to clue the student as to the missed symptom.
Next, I would...
Many students who fail the simulations note that they did not feel adequately prepared for the simulation and needed to reread lecture materials. (Comer, 2005, p. 360). To improve preparedness, I would remind my students that they will do a patient care simulation on the lecture topic where they would be expected to know the role of the nurse as well as the nurse's support staff. At the end of the lecture, I would make sure to review the correct operating procedures for diagnosis and treatment of the covered lecture topic.
Bibliography
Comer, S.K. (2005). PATIENT CARE SIMULATIONS: Role Playing to Enhance Clinical Understanding. Nursing Education Perspectives, 26(6), 357-361.
