Shaping clinical imagination as new graduate nurses in maternal-child simulation

Combined with traditional placement, simulation has been used as an experiential learning opportunity to integrate theory and practice in maternal-child nursing.

van Manen's phenomenology of practice uncovered the lived experience of new graduate nurses adopting maternal-child simulation in their practice. Narrative methods included a three-phased approach to phenomenological interviews to capture the new graduate's entry into practice.

Thematic analysis revealed four main themes: acting like a nurse, forming a clinical imagination, embodying the role of the novice nurse, and embracing in-situ simulation.

The essence of being a nurse required immersion into the ethics of caring and creation of an optimal simulation debriefing using a skilled and thoughtful approach to trigger imaginative thinking. While an inventory of simulation in nursing education was deemed necessary to understand the current blend of traditional placement and simulation in practice education, the new graduate nurses in the study looked for specialty training, and exposure to advanced roles in the simulation experiences.

An integrated traditional placement with the use of simulation fostered clinical imagination where the new graduate nurse visualized and embodied the role of the novice nurse. Future research is required to describe the impact of simulation on practice readiness.