Simulation-based healthcare education programs are one of the most effective ways to facilitate impactful and engaging learning. While these programs are commonly used to orient and train nursing and medical students, simulation can be a powerful tool to assist in the continuous improvement of practicing providers. To ensure patients in emergent situations receive the best possible care, Kaitlen Morgan, a CRNP at Presbyterian Hospital, reached out to WISER to create a Neurologic Emergencies course.
This course, designed for ICU RNs and CCM APPs, utilizes simulation to teach best practices for providing care to neurocritical decompensating patients. “It’s terrifying to take care of patients for the first time and have [a neurologic emergency] happen. Simulation takes away a lot of that fear and anxiety… It takes away a lot of the culture shock and fear of the unknown,” says Morgan, in sharing why she wanted to create this course. Not only does the Neurologic Emergencies course expand upon participants’ pre-existing knowledge base by incorporating scenarios that providers could realistically encounter in a clinical setting, but it also builds confidence and alleviates the uncertainty that comes with managing acute patient encounters. Morgan explains, “I wanted to create an environment where we can practice this, standardize it, talk about it, and be more familiar with all the modalities we use to care for these patients, and be more confident in the unit to save our patients.”
Throughout the class, participants work together to rescue rapidly deteriorating patients while receiving patient safety-centered guidance and support from Morgan. “I feel like at Presby,” Morgan adds, “we’re the best of the best, and that’s what I want for our staff. Thats what I want for our patients. And there’s no better place to practice it, live it, and do it, than going to WISER and working in our patient population up at Presby.” At WISER, it is part of our mission to create and implement effective simulation-based healthcare training programs aimed at improving patient care outcomes across the health system. If you’re a healthcare educator wishing to incorporate simulation-based education in your curriculum, but don’t know where to start, send us an email at wiserhelp@upmc.edu!