When the Real World is Risky, Simulations Teach Skills Safely ”Nursing students manage a limited number of patients under supervision. After graduation, their patient loads can triple or quadruple; supervision may be minimal. How well-prepared are these new nurses to juggle multiple competing demands requiring attention to detail such as critical patient assessments and complex pain management? By assessing the use of educational simulations ”from manikins and role-play to interactive media and standardized patients ” JHUSON associate dean Pamela R. Jeffries, DNS, RN, FAAN, ANEF, and colleagues are working to ensure new nurses can meet high-risk situations and safeguard their patients from adverse events. Writing in "Fostering patient safety competencies using multiple-patient simulation experiences" [Nursing Outlook November/December 2009], Jeffries describes the results of a study testing a simulation that helps assess nursing students' ability to manage complex, even ambiguous, patient safety-related decisions while juggling a large patient load. "The value of simulations cannot be overstated," Jeffries observes. "We can expose students to high-risk nursing situations that they may not see in their clinical education rotations. Simulations help students safely hone skills and problem-solving that, down the road, can help them save lives."

In Other JHUSON Research News ”Associate professors Marie T. Nolan, PhD, RN and Joan Kub, PhD, APR, BC, and others describe a simple way to check the readiness of family members to make difficult decisions for terminally ill loved ones in "Development and validation of the family decision-making self-efficacy scale," [Palliative and Supportive Care, August 2009]. In "Public health and nursing: A natural partnership" [International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, November 2009], Kub urges nurses to stay true to the profession's historic public health focus and to the principles of health promotion and disease prevention, despite growing workforce and economic challenges. Reporting in Academic Emergency Medicine [November 2009], professor Jacqueline Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN, and others show how a brief set of questions help identify victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) at greatest risk of reinjury ["Intimate partner violence: Development of a brief risk assessment for the emergency department"]. Kub, Han, and Campbell explore the effects behaviors like exclusion and social rejection can have on the emotional and physical health of inner city youth ["Relational aggression and adverse psychosocial and physical health symptoms among urban adolescents," Public Health Nursing, November/December 2009]. When clinicians work with women victims within the context of their culture and belief systems, IPV can be reduced, according to associate professor Nancy Glass, PhD, MHP, RN, FAAN, and colleagues ["Research and action on intimate partner violence" in Quad Erat Demonstrandum, Pedio Books, 2009]. In a study of African-American twins, assistant professor Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, MSN, CRNP, and others found younger twins, in contrast to their older counterparts, experience greater educational diversity and attainment, in part as a result of broadened opportunities since the 1960s. ["Education in time:" PloS One, October 2009].

SOURCE Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing