UVA School of Nursing Hosts 2nd Annual Statewide Simulation Workshop
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UVA School of Nursing Hosts 2nd Annual Statewide Simulation Workshop
Laerdal Sponsors Advanced Training for Simulation Resource Leaders
The University of Virginia School of Nursing will host a two and one-half day workshop this June 6-8, sponsored by the Laerdal Medical Corporation, to provide advanced training for 30 health care educators and providers who are incorporating simulation technologies into curricula. Participants, who will come from every corner of the Commonwealth, also will be prepared to serve as resource leaders for other simulation users in their regions. The workshop will be held in McLeod Hall.
The training will address a wide range of diversity in user experience with this sophisticated technology. Participants will focus on how to create meaningful scenarios related to their educational curricula, how to implement those scenarios most effectively, and how to develop an evaluation process that adds to the educational experience.
Now an annual conference, this workshop builds on the formation of the Virginia State Simulation Alliance (VASSA) that began at last year’s event, the first-ever statewide simulation user conference that drew over 80 participants from all across Virginia. The number is limited this time to allow for more intensive, individualized, hands-on training. Virginia remains the state with the largest number of animated simulation manikins (SimMan® and Sim Baby® models, manufactured by Laerdal) in the country with over 75 in use.
According to Reba Moyer Childress, MSN, FNPN, APRN-BC, Assistant Professor of Nursing and Director of the University of Virginia School of Nursing’s Clinical Simulation Learning Center, simulation technology not only helps students to develop and refine specific clinical skills, but it also assists in advancing their critical thinking, decision making, and ability to function effectively as a team member. She has been an ardent advocate for using simulation in teaching health care providers across disciplines. As she puts it, “This is all about improving quality of patient care by providing realistic practice and critical decision-making for students without risk to patients. Students can practice before they reach the bedside of real patients and we can also make sure they encounter all the clinical situations they need to learn to handle, whether they happen to experience them in their real-life clinical rotations or not.”
Childress is a founding board member of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning and served as one of the eight- member National League for Nursing-Laerdal National Simulation Research Team that conducted an extensive multi-site investigation into simulation education nationwide. She is recognized nationally and internationally for her expertise.
The University of Virginia School of Nursing stands among the top 5% in the nation, ranked 19th by US News & World Report; two of its graduate programs are currently listed in the U.S. News Top Ten. With a vigorous research program that includes studies in rural health care and disparities, oncology, gerontology, complementary therapies and nursing history, the School is ranked 22nd in National Institutes of Health nursing research funding and first in the country for doctoral-student authored NRSA Fellowships. The School has implemented new programs and strategies to address the national nursing shortage and the concurrent need for more highly educated nurses to deliver increasingly complex health care. For more information about the UVA School of Nursing and its programs, visit www.nursing.virginia.edu.