Situation awareness in undergraduate nursing students managing simulated patient deterioration
- Authors: McKenna, Lisa , Missen, Karen , Cooper, Simon J. , Bogossian, Fiona , Bucknall, Tracey , Cant, Robyn
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nurse Education Today Vol. 34, no. 6 (June 2014), p. e27-e31
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- Description: Background: Nursing work often occurs in complex and potentially hazardous settings. Awareness of patient and practice environments is an imperative for nurses in practice. Objectives: To explore nursing students' situation awareness while engaging in simulated patient deterioration scenarios. Design: The educational process of FIRST2ACT was the model for the nurse intervention. Situation awareness was measured quantitatively using the Situation Awareness Global Assessment tool. Four domains were measured: physiological perception (patient parameters), global perception (surroundings), comprehension (interpretation of information), and projection (forecasting outcomes). Settings: Clinical laboratories at each of three participating universities. Participants: Ninety-seven nursing students from three Australian universities. Methods: Between March and July 2012, students participated in three video-recorded simulation events, in which a trained actor played patient roles and groups of three students worked as teams. To measure situation awareness, following the simulation each team leader was taken to a separate room and asked to report on a question set regarding the patient's vital signs, bedside setting and medical diagnosis. Results and Conclusions: Overall, situation awareness was low (41%). Of the four domains, physiological perceptions scored the lowest (26%) and projection the highest (59%).Final year nursing students may not have well developed situation awareness skills, especially when dealing with these types of scenarios. Education providers need to consider ways to assist students to fully develop this attribute. Findings suggest that this is an aspect of undergraduate nursing education that requires significant consideration by curriculum developers.
Undergraduate nursing students' peformance in recognising and responding to sudden patient deterioration in high psychological fidelity simulated environments: Quantitative results from an Australian multi-centre study
- Authors: Bogossian, Fiona , Cooper, Simon J. , Cant, Robyn , Beauchamp, Alison , Porter, Joanne , Kain, Victoria , Bucknall, Tracey , Phillips, Nicole
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nurse Education Today Vol. 34, no. 5 (2014), p. 691-696
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- Description: Objectives This paper reports the quantitative findings of the first phase of a larger program of ongoing research: Feedback Incorporating Review and Simulation Techniques to Act on Clinical Trends (FIRST2ACTTM). It specifically aims to identify the characteristics that may predict primary outcome measures of clinical performance, teamwork and situation awareness in the management of deteriorating patients. Design Mixed-method multi-centre study. Setting High fidelity simulated acute clinical environment in three Australian universities. Participants A convenience sample of 97 final year nursing students enrolled in an undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing or combined Bachelor of Nursing degree were included in the study. Method In groups of three, participants proceeded through three phases: (i) pre-briefing and completion of a multi-choice question test, (ii) three video-recorded simulated clinical scenarios where actors substituted real patients with deteriorating conditions, and (iii) post-scenario debriefing. Clinical performance, teamwork and situation awareness were evaluated, using a validated standard checklist (OSCE), Team Emergency Assessment Measure (TEAM) score sheet and Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT). A Modified Angoff technique was used to establish cut points for clinical performance. Results Student teams engaged in 97 simulation experiences across the three scenarios and achieved a level of clinical performance consistent with the experts' identified pass level point in only 9 (1%) of the simulation experiences. Knowledge was significantly associated with overall teamwork (p = .034), overall situation awareness (p = .05) and clinical performance in two of the three scenarios (p = .032 cardiac and p = .006 shock). Situation awareness scores of scenario team leaders were low overall, with an average total score of 41%. Conclusions Final year undergraduate nursing students may have difficulty recognising and responding appropriately to patient deterioration. Improving pre-requisite knowledge, rehearsal of first response and team management strategies need to be a key component of undergraduate nursing students' education and ought to specifically address clinical performance, teamwork and situation awareness.