Simulation-Based Nursing Curriculum for Sepsis Training
This paper presents a four-week nursing education curriculum that integrates simulation-based learning to prepare nursing students for real-world sepsis management. Drawing on Knowles's adult learning principles and Dorothea Orem's Self-Care Model, the curriculum addresses a recognized gap in clinical training for sepsis identification and treatment. The program blends low- and high-fidelity simulations, lectures, group discussions, and self-directed learning. It outlines course objectives, competencies, evaluation methods, and an implementation timeline, culminating in a mock sepsis code. Accreditation through the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing is planned, and evaluation follows both individual and systematic assessment frameworks.
- Introduction to Simulation in Nursing Education: Rationale for simulation as an active nursing learning strategy
- Program Need, Beneficiaries, and Effects: Sepsis training gap, adult learners, and interdisciplinary benefits
- Mission, Philosophy, and Theoretical Framework: Orem's Self-Care Model as the curriculum's nursing theory base
- Program Components: Objectives, Content, and Teaching Methods: Objectives, simulation methods, and detailed course content table
- Course Syllabus and Competencies: Four-week syllabus and program competency statements
- Program Logistics, Evaluation, and Accreditation: Credits, accreditation, delivery format, and evaluation process
- Summary and Appendix: Conclusion, mission statement, philosophy, and evaluation schematic
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What makes this paper effective
- The curriculum grounds every design decision in established theory — Knowles's andragogy principles and Orem's Self-Care Model — giving the program a defensible academic foundation.
- The paper moves logically from rationale to structure to evaluation, making the curriculum easy for educators or accreditors to follow and assess.
- The inclusion of a detailed course content table, four-week syllabus, and evaluation schematic demonstrates practical implementability, not just theoretical planning.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively uses theoretical integration: each major design choice (simulation as method, adult-centered delivery, interdisciplinary emphasis) is linked to a named theory or cited evidence base. This technique shows readers that the curriculum is not arbitrary but is traceable to validated frameworks in nursing education and adult learning.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a rationale for simulation in nursing education, narrows to the specific gap in sepsis training, and introduces the learner population. It then presents the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings before detailing program components — objectives, content, teaching methods, and the syllabus — in increasing specificity. It closes with logistics, evaluation criteria, and appendix materials including the mission statement, philosophy statement, and evaluation schematic. This funnel structure moves from broad justification to granular operational detail.
Introduction to Simulation in Nursing Education
As Terzioglu, Tuna, and Duygulu (2013) state, "learning from experience is an important part of nursing education [and] using simulation as an innovative teaching strategy in nursing education" is an effective way to reinforce technique, principles, knowledge, skills, and practice (p. 34). Simulation gives nursing students the opportunity to engage with real-world dynamics in a controlled environment where they can receive immediate feedback following their active learning experience. This curriculum is designed to engage students in the art of simulation and to highlight the importance of realistic experiences in the learning process.
Program Need, Beneficiaries, and Effects
Need for This Program
Nguyen et al. (2009) note that clinical knowledge and the skills and experience needed to treat patients with sepsis are lacking in the nursing field. This program has been developed to address this gap. Ortiz-Ruiz et al. (2018) have stated that "simulation is an efficient method for teaching in sepsis" (p. 151). For that reason, this program aims to use simulation to give nursing students the opportunity to receive sepsis training that can prepare them for the real world of nursing.
Who Benefits
Nursing students benefit first and foremost from this curriculum. Knowles (1984) suggested four principles that apply to adult learning and that explain why nursing students benefit from this curriculum:
- Adults need to be involved in the planning and evaluation of their instruction.
- Experience (including mistakes) provides the basis for the learning activities.
- Adults are most interested in learning subjects that have immediate relevance and impact to their job or personal life.
- Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented (Knowles, 1984).
This curriculum allows educators to become facilitators of adult education, helping the adult learner to set and achieve goals and guiding them in choosing the subjects and courses needed to fulfill those goals. This is important because the adult learner brings into the continuing educational arena a rich array of experiences that will affect learning styles and the assimilation of knowledge. Adult learners need to be able to apply knowledge to their own life situations.
The Effects
The advantage of an interdisciplinary nursing curriculum is that it encourages and empowers students to think critically and creatively and to draw on knowledge from other programs of study and incorporate it into their practice. If students were to study only what is within their own field, they would not be able to understand and appreciate what others contribute to the care of patients. Everyone in the healthcare field has a role, and everyone working together as a team benefits not only themselves but the patient as well. The World Health Organization recommends that students begin using the principles of teamwork in their education immediately, because learning how to communicate effectively and work together can be time-consuming; incorporating teamwork within the context of medical curricula will make students better prepared (Why is Teamwork in Health Care Important?, n.d.).
General Description
This course is designed to educate students about sepsis and to help them understand that it is a complex and potentially fatal condition that occurs as a result of the systemic manifestation of infection. The course emphasizes the importance of early detection and the implementation of evidence-based guidelines to ensure patient survival. Using sepsis as its primary focus, this course will serve to educate future healthcare educators in the art of simulation as an educational modality. The foundations, design, articulation, and evaluation of simulation will be accomplished using the pathophysiological processes of sepsis as the central topic.
Mission, Philosophy, and Theoretical Framework
Mission and Philosophy
The mission and philosophy statements are included in the Appendix at the end of this document.
The Foundational Theoretical Nursing Model
Dorothea Orem's Self-Care Model serves as the foundational nursing theory for this curriculum. Orem's theory holds that self-care comprises those activities performed independently by an individual to promote and maintain personal well-being (Nursing Theorists, 2011). Nurses should be able to operate independently and use critical thinking to make sound decisions for their patients and for themselves. This curriculum was designed to promote and utilize the self-care theory by guiding and supporting students, which will ultimately help them grow in confidence and become self-empowered nurses. If a student is dependent on someone or something else, he or she will not be successful and will not be driven to continue learning. Orem's model, therefore, helps to nourish the idea that the student is the primary driver of success and that, to succeed in nursing, he or she must become an active learner who takes ownership of the educative process.
Program Components: Objectives, Content, and Teaching Methods
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, the student will:
- Identify and explore various modalities of simulation utilized in the educational setting.
- Understand and discuss the value of simulation in the educational setting and its impact on developing critical thinking processes and clinical skills.
- Design, construct, and perform various simulations involving the treatment of patients with sepsis and septic shock.
Evaluation Methods
Students will be evaluated through a combination of the following:
- Written or computerized quiz/exam
- Essay/Research Paper
- Group Q&A
- Return demonstration on simulation lab safety and operations
- Sim-lab evaluation
- Evaluation/test using different patient scenarios
- Each team will work through a mock code together
Teaching Methods and Learning Strategies
Differentiation strategies, scaffolding, visual aids, and both low-fidelity and high-fidelity simulations will be used to instruct students. Low-fidelity simulations will include interactive multimedia patient simulation exercises and role playing; high-fidelity simulations will include full clinical scenarios. Role playing has been found to be an effective method for simulation exercises, as it gives students the opportunity to try out scenarios in an active manner; high-fidelity simulations are best suited for advanced students (Munshi et al., 2015).
Learning strategies will include active learning (reading, role playing, and other simulations), passive learning (listening to lectures and PowerPoint presentations), group discussions, and self-directed learning (research and writing). These four learning strategies will provide students with multiple opportunities to engage in forms of learning appropriate to their individual learning styles.
Course Content
(1) Define Sepsis — Assigned readings (2 hours didactic / 0 hours clinical)
(a) Abnormal response to infection — Lecture, PowerPoint Presentation (1/0); Assessment: Written or computerized exam
(b) Cytokines are unchecked, vasodilation, increased capillary permeability — Group Discussion (1/0); Assessment: Group Q&A
(c) Review pathophysiology progression — Simulation lab: orientation and introduction (1 didactic / 3 clinical); Assessment: Return demonstration on simulation lab safety and operations
(2) Recognize 5 Signs and Symptoms of Sepsis — Assigned readings (2/0)
(a) Fever, tachycardia, tachypnea — Lecture, PowerPoint (2/0); Assessment: Written or computerized exam
(b) Clotting issues — Group discussion (1/0); Assessment: Group Q&A
(c) Decreased output, hypotension — Sim lab: identify a patient presenting to the ER with signs and symptoms of sepsis (1 didactic / 3 clinical); Assessment: Sim lab evaluation — student will be able to identify a patient with sepsis versus one with a simple infection
(3) Care of the Septic Patient — Assigned readings (3/0)
(a) Initial resuscitation — Lecture, PowerPoint (2/0); Assessment: Written or computerized exam
(b) Increase preload, normalize lactate, reverse hypoperfusion — Group discussion (1/0); Assessment: Group Q&A
(c) Increase oxygen-carrying capacity, promote adequate cardiac contractility — Sim lab: Sepsis rapid response team "code" (2 didactic / 6 clinical); Assessment: Evaluation/test using different patient scenarios; each team will work through the code together
(4) Summary and Key Takeaways
(a) After the patient is resuscitated, review next steps, monitoring, and recovery — Sim lab: students will learn appropriate monitoring and stabilizing measures (2 didactic / 3 clinical); Assessment: Sim lab evaluation — student will demonstrate skills and patient education
(b) Early identification is key — Assigned readings (2/0); Assessment: Written or computerized exam
(c) Timely antibiotic administration improves outcomes
(5) Simulation and Its Uses in the Educational Setting — Lecture, group discussion (1/0); Assessment: Group Q&A
(a) Theoretical foundations, design, and articulation of simulation — Online lecture (1/0); Assessment: Written or computerized exam
(b) Methods for effective simulation in the educational setting — Online lecture (1/0); Assessment: Group discussion, Q&A
(c) Evaluation of simulation performance and effectiveness — Sim lab, post-conferencing following simulation activities (0 didactic / 3 clinical); Assessment: Group discussion, evaluation forms
Credits
Students will receive three credit hours as per standard class credit recognition.
Admission Requirements
Prerequisites: Completion of required prerequisite coursework as designated by the program.
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