A pilot virtual simulation project has been launched for undergraduate and graduate nursing students, in a step to tackle disruptions to in-person clinical teaching at SONAM. This has been with the support of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning. INACSL, a US-based body advancing standards of best practice in healthcare simulation.
Considered a remarkably effective teaching pedagogy in nursing, simulation has proven to be paramount in enhancing critical thinking, clinical decision-making and psycho-motor skills of nursing students as they can gain confidence in patient care by practicing on patient mannequins before interacting with real-life patients.
This method of teaching has been in practice for years but with the rapidly changing landscape of technology, developed countries have already moved simulation teaching from face to face to online or virtual reality.
Preparations to begin online simulation at the School were already underway, but with the outbreak of COVID-19, efforts into launching this initiative were expedited to ensure the students’ clinical simulation classes could be efficiently moved online. Moving this online also ensures that students can access this learning platform at any given time, without the limitation of scheduled simulation classes on campus.
The project was initiatied by the clinical simulation team at SONAM, which is led by faculty members Zohra Kurji and Sadia Abbas Ali, alongside colleagues Shirin Rahim, Mehtab Jaffer and Zulekha Saleem, in close collaboration with AKU’s Technology Innovation Support Centre, and was launched on April 16, 2021.
“The idea of technological transcendence from in-person to virtual simulation is the next phase of learning modality but requires significant efforts to maintain best practices. Our partnership with INACSL is enabling us in just that! To advance the science of simulation, share best-practices and provide evidence-based guidelines in improving simulation operating procedures”, says Dr Rubina Barolia, Assistant Dean of Clinical Practice and the lead advisor for this project.
The MoU with INACSL includes capacity-building trainings of faculty members by international simulation experts, the first of which is already underway for both SONAM Pakistan and East Africa. The second phase of this partnership will look into developing contextualised clinical scenarios for Pakistan to increase relevance for local healthcare, for example community health nursing in a rural setting.
