Embracing Disruption: Measuring Effectiveness of Virtual Simulations in Advanced Practice Nurse Curriculum

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Medical Simulation
• Higher Education Adaptations

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated rapid changes in academic settings.
• Traditional in-person simulation-based education faced significant disruption.
• Maintaining educational quality and standards in a virtual environment became crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the methods for transitioning simulation-based education to a virtual format.
• To outline the procedures for onboarding faculty, staff, and graduate nurse practitioner students to virtual simulation.
• To ensure adherence to simulation best practices and collect evaluation data.

Main Methods:

• Development of a structured onboarding process for virtual simulation.
• Implementation of training modules for faculty and students on virtual simulation platforms.
• Utilization of the Simulation Effectiveness Tool-Modified (SET-M) for data collection and evaluation.

Main Results:

• Successful adaptation of simulation-based education to a virtual environment.
• Effective onboarding of diverse academic personnel and students to new virtual modalities.
• Generation of evaluation data through the SET-M to assess virtual simulation effectiveness.

Conclusions:

• Virtual simulation provides a viable alternative for maintaining nursing education continuity.
• A systematic approach to faculty and student onboarding is essential for successful virtual simulation implementation.
• The SET-M is a valuable tool for evaluating the effectiveness of virtual simulation in academic settings.