Beth Latimer

Abstract

Background: Despite recommendations to include disability content in nursing education, nursing students have little exposure to disability education, which would help to develop necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes in learning to care for patients with disabilities. Purpose: This study evaluated learners' perceptions of the effectiveness of a tabletop simulation in meeting their learning needs related to nursing care for children with disabilities and their families. Methods: The research design was a descriptive educational intervention study. Nursing students (n = 234) enrolled in the pediatric nursing course attended the simulation as a required part of their coursework. Results: The majority of the students found the tabletop simulation with disability content to be an effective educational intervention. Conclusions: The results obtained from this study indicated that the tabletop simulation was an effective educational strategy for nursing students' learning to provide care for children with disabilities and their families.

Abstract

Nursing students receive limited education to prepare them for providing quality nursing care to people with disabilities. The aim of this article is to provide the state of the science, or what is known, about nursing simulation with disability content to provide direction for nursing education and research in the future. Thirteen studies were reviewed and appraised in this integrative review. This review revealed three major student-related study outcomes for simulation activities: (a) empathy, (b) understanding and awareness, and (c) communication and disability. Only a few studies integrated a definition of a disability and specified the disability model to guide the development of the simulation activity. This review revealed limited research on the use of simulation with disability content in nursing education. The findings indicate there is a need for nurse educators and researchers to use best practices, such as a competency-based approach, when integrating simulation activities with disability content into the nursing curriculum.

Abstract

This column shares the best evidence-based strategies and innovative ideas on how to facilitate the learning and implementation of EBP principles and processes by clinicians as well as nursing and interprofessional students. Guidelines for submission are available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1741-6787.

Abstract

This article describes posthospitalization visits by 83 nursing students to 57 older patients and their caregivers discharged from two large academic medical centers and one community hospital. Patient and caregiver interviews in the home focused on the areas of geriatric assessments of cognitive and functional status, patient and caregiver satisfaction with recent hospitalization, ongoing health management, patient teaching, and discharge planning.