The use of hi fidelity simulation to enhance nursing students' therapeutic communication skills.

Full Abstract

Nursing students entering psychiatric settings for clinical practice need a solid foundation of therapeutic communication skills. This article presents an innovative strategy for nursing students to practice therapeutic communication skills with psychiatric patients by using hi fidelity simulation with Laerdal SimMan. Using the SimMan vocal function enabled nurse educators to develop communication algorithms that allowed students to interact with SimMan as they would with psychiatric patients. The SimMan algorithms can be designed to mimic many scenarios typically found in psychiatric settings. Nursing students can use this technology to take the therapeutic communication skills they have learned in the classroom and practice them in a safe laboratory environment before entering actual psychiatric settings. The ability of students to practice communication skills prior to entering psychiatric settings can promote effective therapeutic communication skills and decrease student anxiety.

Author information

Author/s: Sleeper, Justin A (JA); Thompson, Cesarina (C);

Affiliation: The William W Backus Hospital. jsleeper(-atsign-)wwbh.org

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Evaluation Studies; Journal Article

Journal: International journal of nursing education scholarship (Int J Nurs Educ Scholarsh), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-; vol 5 (issue ) : pp Article 42

Dates: Created 2009/01/05; Completed 2009/02/04;

PMID: 19120033, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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