NR535 Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge – Nursing Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge
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General Instructions
Carefully read the assignment guidelines and rubric and complete each section of the simulation design template below using the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice (2021) to help guide your simulation design and planning. Answer all prompts in complete sentences and support your responses with at least three scholarly sources.
Simulation Overview
Briefly describe the setting in which the simulation will take place (academic or non-academic).
The setting of the simulation will be a non-academic education department of a large community hospital that offers acute and critical care. This environment is representative of the actual clinical practice and helps in the continuous enhancement of competency among practicing nurses.
Briefly describe the learners (e.g., students, new graduate nurses, etc.), including their level of experience.
The trainees are bedside registered nurses who have six months to two years of clinical practice experience working on medical-surgical and step-down units. These are nurse practitioners with fundamental assessment competencies, yet with less experience in taking care of patients with sepsis who are rapidly getting worse.
List the nursing competency (e.g., managing sepsis, end-of-life care, etc.) the simulation is intended to address and explain why this is appropriate for your setting and learners.
The addressed nursing competency is the management of sepsis. The competency is suitable since sepsis is a high risk, time-sensitive condition that is common in acute care and early nursing recognition and intervention has a great influence on patient outcomes. Nursing Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge
In one paragraph, provide a synopsis of the simulation scenario.
The case of the simulation is an adult patient with pneumonia who starts showing signs of sepsis such as hypotension, tachycardia, fever, altered mental status, and decreasing urine output. The learners will be expected to identify early signs of sepsis, prompt sepsis procedures, communicate with the provider, administer fluids and antibiotics, reassess patient response and prioritize patient safety and collaboration.
Learning Objectives
Create three measurable learning objectives that address each of the three learning domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Explain why the learning objectives are appropriately leveled for your chosen learners.
Cognitive Domain Objective: The learner will recognize the clinical signs of sepsis correctly and be able to communicate the necessary priority nursing interventions during the first ten minutes of patient degradation.
Leveling rationale: The objective is suitable since the learners already have the background knowledge, and they are supposed to use clinical reasoning to identify patterns of sepsis and take the appropriate response.
Affective Domain Objective: The learner will also be confident and responsible in escalating issues and work alongside the healthcare team in managing sepsis. Nursing Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge
Leveling rationale: This goal facilitates professional development as it tackles communication, teamwork, and emotional reactions when dealing with high-stress clinical scenarios that are typical of a novice nurse.
Psychomotor Domain Objective: The learner will provide adequate sepsis-related skills such as assessment of vital signs, administration of IV fluids, collection of blood cultures, and delivery of medication by protocol.
Leveling rationale: These practical skills are in line with the level of experience of the learners and they support safe and correct practice of necessary interventions when the patient is getting worse.
Prebriefing: Preparation and Briefing Plan
Describe one strategy you will use to establish a respectful, inclusive, and psychologically safe environment.
With a clear simulation agreement focusing on confidentiality, respect and shared learning, a respectful, inclusive, and psychologically safe environment will be provided. Students will be informed that the simulation is aimed at enhancing, but not assessing job performance, and that mistakes are welcome and appreciated as a learning experience. The facilitator will employ a non-judgmental language, and address differences according to the level of experience.
Describe three aspects of the simulation experience (e.g., learner roles, learning objectives, etc.) that you will use the prebriefing time to clarify for learners.
The facilitator will explicitly describe the functions and expectations of the learners; who will be the primary and secondary nurses and who will be in the support team. Specific learning goals associated with early identification and treatment of sepsis will be examined to enable the learners to be aware of the priorities of the scenario. Moreover, boundaries and limitations of the scenario will be presented, like how to request laboratory results, communicate with providers, and interpret simulated patient responses to avoid unpredictability during the experience.
Describe two ways you will orient learners to the simulation space, equipment, and scenario.
Learners will be taken through an organized tour of the patient care area where the location and working of monitors, IV pumps, oxygen delivery devices, and emergency supplies are found. The orientation will also provide the learners with practical time to mingle with the equipment, get baseline vital signs and go through the patient chart to develop familiarity and lessen cognitive workload when the scenario commences. Nursing Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge
Describe how you will ensure the prebriefing process is standardized and consistently implemented across all simulation sessions.
The standardization will be done via a prebriefing checklist and scripted facilitator guide which will provide the main points of discussion and expectations (Penn et al., 2023). Every educator involved in the facilitation of the simulation will be trained on the standardized prebriefing process and periodic peer observation will be applied in order to provide a uniform implementation and compliance with simulation best practices.
Facilitation Strategies
Describe how the facilitation of the simulation will be adapted to the learners’ level of experience.
Facilitation will be accommodating to the early career experiences of the learners by letting them evaluate and control the patient, but also offering some minor guidance when needed. The facilitator will not interrupt too much, but they will only provide cues when the learners fail to capture some of the critical safety factors or when they become stalled. The methodology promotes self-directed learning without compromising patient safety and learning.
Describe two evidence-based facilitation strategies you will include in the simulation experience.
Clinical cueing will be integrated into the simulation by varying patient condition, like worsening vital signs, or altered mental status, to elicit clinical thinking (Poledna et al., 2022). Also, guided questioning shall be employed whenever necessary by the facilitator to make the learners think about their choices without interfering with the scenario.
Describe one strategy you will use to help maintain realism and support learning during the simulation.
Realism will be sustained or adopted by using dynamic patient response based on the interventions used by the learner, like improvement after administration of fluids or worsening when intervention is delayed. The interaction with simulated providers will replicate actual clinical processes and support real-life choices and prioritization.
Describe how you will adjust your facilitation strategies in real-time based on learner needs and scenario progression.
The facilitation strategies will be modified by adding more cues to learners showing difficulty with sepsis indicators recognition or reducing the support provided to learners who are developing or moving in the right direction. Real time adjustments to scenario pacing, patient responses and facilitator prompts will be done to maximize the learning process without undermining psychological safety.
The Debriefing Process
Select an evidence-based debriefing model and provide rationale for your choice.
PEARLS debriefing model will be adopted since it incorporates self-reflection of the learner, discussion and directive feedback in a formal but flexible manner (Smith et al., 2025). The model facilitates reflective learning and enables the facilitator to discuss essential clinical and communication concerns regarding the management of sepsis.
Describe how you will ensure the educators are competent in the use of the chosen debriefing model.
The competence of educators will be guaranteed with the use of the formal training on PEARLS model, observation of trained facilitators, and involvement in the mock debriefing sessions. Constant feedback and professional growth will support effective and regular use of the model.
Describe how you will encourage learners to engage in the debriefing process.
To make the learners participate, the debriefing will be initiated with open-ended reflection questions and will enable learners to explain how they think. The facilitator will confirm the input and encourage quiet participants to contribute to the discussion, which will encourage inclusivity.
Describe how you will ensure psychological safety during the debriefing process.
The psychological safety will be provided through the discussion of actions and choices, instead of people and by presenting errors as a learning process. The facilitator will also demonstrate positive talk and enforce confidentiality during the debriefing.
Evaluation Tools
Identify the evidence-based evaluation tool you plan to use for this simulation.
The performance of learners in the course of the simulation will be assessed with the help of the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument (Manz et al., 2022).
Explain how the evaluation tool aligns with the stated learning objectives.
This tool is compatible with the learning objectives as it will evaluate the skills of assessment, communication, clinical judgment as well as psychomotor performance concerning the issue of sepsis management.
Describe how you will ensure evaluation consistency among educators to promote fair and objective evaluation.
Evaluator training, the application of the standardized scoring guidelines, and the periodical inter-rater reliability checks of the educators will be used to ensure consistency.
Explain whether this tool will be used for formative assessment, summative assessment, or both. Provide rationale. Nursing Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge
Formative assessment will be implemented with the help of the tool to offer systematic feedback and help to continue the skill development without high-stakes implications.
Operational and Staffing Considerations
Describe one strategy you will employ to ensure educators and staff are adequately trained in simulation pedagogy, technology, and scenario management.
Teachers and personnel will attend frequent simulation training sessions, which will consist of scenario simulation practice, practice with technology and review of facilitation and debriefing approaches.
List four specific resources (e.g., IV pump, standardized patient, etc.) needed to meet learning goals for this simulation.
The necessary supplies will be high-fidelity adult manikin, IV infusion pumps, physiologic monitoring, and simulated medications and laboratory results.
Detail how much time you will allot for prebriefing, scenario execution, and debriefing. Support your answer with rationale.
Simulation Stages
Time Allotted
Rationale
Prebriefing
Fifteen minutes.
This time is helpful in terms of orientation, expectations and learner preparation.
Scenario Execution
Twenty minutes.
This time frame enables identification of sepsis, intervention and post intervention assessment.
Debriefing
Thirty minutes.
Debriefing over a long period of time promotes reflection, feedback, and clinical practice.
Describe how you will ensure continuous improvement of the simulation experience for educators and learners.
Learner assessments, reflection of the faciltators, analysis of the performance results and periodic updating of the scenario according to the existing sepsis guidelines and organizational requirements will be used to promote continuous improvement.
References
Manz, J. A., Tracy, M., Hercinger, M., Todd, M., Iverson, L., & Hawkins, K. (2022). Assessing competency: An integrative review of the Creighton Simulation Evaluation Instrument (C-SEI) and Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument (C-CEI). Clinical Simulation in Nursing , 66 , 66–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2022.02.003
Penn, J., Voyce, C., Nadeau, J., Crocker, A., Ramirez, M., & Smith, S. (2023). Optimizing interprofessional simulation with intentional pre-briefing and debriefing. Advances in Medical Education and Practice , Volume 14 , 1273–1277. https://doi.org/10.2147/amep.s395872
Poledna, M., Gómez-Morales, A., & Hagler, D. (2022). Nursing students’ cue recognition in educational simulation. Nurse Educator , 47 (5), 283–287. https://doi.org/10.1097/nne.0000000000001198
Smith, L., Kleinheksel, A., & Tews, M. (2025). Evaluating facilitator adherence to a newly adopted simulation debriefing framework. Canadian Medical Education Journal . https://doi.org/10.36834/cmej.77268
Nursing Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge
General Instructions
Complete the Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge assignment by following the steps below.
Consider the setting (academic or non-academic) setting in which you prefer to design your simulation.
Choose a specific nursing competency that aligns with your chosen setting (e.g., managing sepsis, end-of-life care, interprofessional communication, etc.).
Considering the INACSL Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice (2021) to design a meaningful simulation experience for educators and learners.
Use the Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge template Download Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge template Open this document with ReadSpeaker docReader to complete this assignment. You may choose to create your own template; however, it must include the components in the rubric. See the rubric.
Follow APA grammar, spelling, word usage, and punctuation rules consistent with formal, scholarly writing.
Provide resources from at least three scholarly resources. Include in-text citations in APA format when applicable.
No more than one short direct quote (15 words or less) may be used in this assignment.
First person should not be used within this assignment.
Abide by Chamberlain University’s academic integrity policy.
Include the following sections (detailed criteria listed below and in the grading rubric).
Simulation Overview
Briefly describe the setting in which the simulation will take place (academic or non-academic).
Briefly describe the learners (e.g., students, new graduate nurses, etc.), including their level of experience.
List the nursing competency (e.g., managing sepsis, end-of-life care, etc.) the simulation is intended to address and explain why this is appropriate for your setting and learners.
In one paragraph, provide a synopsis of the simulation scenario.
Learning Objectives
Create three measurable learning objectives that address each of the three learning domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.
Cognitive domain objective
Affective domain objective
Psychomotor domain objective
Explain why the learning objectives are appropriately leveled for your chosen learners.
Nursing Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge
Prebriefing: Preparation and Briefing Plan
Describe one strategy you will use to establish a respectful, inclusive, and psychologically safe environment.
Describe three aspects of the simulation experience (e.g., learner roles, learning objectives, etc.) that you will use the prebriefing time to clarify for learners.
Describe two ways you will orient learners to the simulation space, equipment, and scenario.
Describe how you will ensure the prebriefing process is standardized and consistently implemented across all simulation sessions.
Facilitation Strategies
Describe how the facilitation of the simulation will be adapted to the learners’ level of experience.
Describe two evidence-based facilitation strategies you will include in the simulation experience.
Describe one strategy you will use to help maintain realism and support learning during the simulation.
Describe how you will adjust your facilitation strategies in real-time based on learner needs and scenario progression.
The Debriefing Process
Select an evidence-based debriefing model and provide rationale for your choice.
Describe how you will ensure the educators are competent in the use of the chosen debriefing model.
Describe how you will encourage learners to engage in the debriefing process.
Describe how you will ensure psychological safety during the debriefing process.
Evaluation Tools
Identify the evidence-based evaluation tool you plan to use for this simulation.
Explain how the evaluation tool aligns with the stated learning objectives.
Describe how you will ensure evaluation consistency among educators to promote fair and objective evaluation.
Explain whether this tool will be used for formative assessment, summative assessment, or both. Provide rationale.
Operational and Staffing Considerations
Describe one strategy you will employ to ensure educators and staff are adequately trained in simulation pedagogy, technology, and scenario management.
List four specific resources (e.g., IV pump, standardized patient, etc.) needed to meet learning goals for this simulation.
Detail how much time you will allot for prebriefing, scenario execution, and debriefing. Support your answer with rationale.
Describe how you will ensure continuous improvement of the simulation experience for educators and learners.
Format
Complete all required sections per the assignment guidelines and rubric.
Include in-text citations and complete matching references in the correct APA format.
Write in complete sentences.
Scholarly Sources
Provide resources from at least three scholarly sources. Nursing Simulation Best Practices: Design Challenge
