Nursing program receives Departmental Learning Innovation Grant

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February 8, 2008

The Centre for Leadership in Learning is pleased to announce that the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program has been awarded a Departmental Learning Innovation Grant.

We are deeply grateful to the Imperial Oil Charitable Foundation, which provides the principal support for these grants. The Grant provides approximately $100,000 of support for a three-year project entitled Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of Clinical Simulation to Enhance Professional Nursing Practice.

Clinical simulation is an emerging trend in health professional education. This project will enable computer-based simulators to approximate live clinical situations, thereby making it possible for students to learn in a rich, but safe, environment before they begin to work with ill patients in a clinical setting under faculty supervision.

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, the Faculty of Health Sciences, the School of Nursing and the BScN Program have also made contributions to this project.

A Project Steering Committee consisting of nursing faculty, staff, and undergraduate students will oversee implementation of the project. The goal of the project is to fully develop, implement and evaluate clinical simulation within the overall BScN Program.

Specific activities of the project include:

  • Develop, pilot test and implement specific clinical simulation learning activities for each year of the curriculum.
  • Tailor clinical simulation strategies to the student-centred, problem-based approach of the BScN curriculum. As there is limited evidence of the best practice in using clinical simulation, each phase of implementation will be carefully evaluated.
  • Engage faculty in learning to integrate clinical simulation into their theoretical and clinical teaching strategies.

    The Program will build on the existing strengths of the faculty in clinical education. The use of computer-based simulators will require additional learning by all faculty engaged in nursing education.

    By the end of this project, students will learn clinical decision-making and interprofessional team functioning in a new way. Students will be more engaged in learning from an earlier point in their education, will feel more confident when they first encounter live patients and will be more competent professionals when they graduate.

    The project begins on April 1, 2008. If you would like to be involved in the project or require any further information, please contact Dr. Janet Landeen, assistant dean, Undergraduate Nursing Education, at landeen@mcmaster.ca.