Human patient simulation (HPS) involves using a life-like mannequin on which nursing student can practice their skills, gain competency and confidence without negatively affecting an actual human patient. While it sounds like a great idea to help students learn and to avoid any unfortunate mishaps that may occur while a student is learning, there are issues associated with HPS that some may not have considered. Overall, however, HPS appears to be a great new innovative way for students to practice nursing skills and gain confidence in them before practicing them on an actual human patient.
Human patient simulators (HPS) use a computerized or electronically controlled mannequin to simulate a patient on which nursing students and students in other healthcare fields can practice the practical aspects of their education. HPS is useful for training students in core competencies such as patient care. Because it is computerized, the simulator can provide data to educators about the students’ performance and the educators can evaluate based on the data. The picture below provides an example of an HPS.
The initial impression gotten from the concept of HPS is favorable. Here is a non-living, but life-like “human” that can serve as a close imitation of an actual patient on which nursing students can practice without harming them. Much of the education nurses receive is in classrooms talking about theory and how to perform clinical actions. As Shin, Park, and Kim (2015) of Nurse Education Today explain, “The ultimate goal of nursing education is to promote the application of theoretical knowledge to clinical practice” (Shin, Park, & Kim, 2015, p. 176). Using a simulator offers this experience before a nursing student is left to practice on actual human patients. However, using HPS may not be the best choice of learning tools for all nursing students.
All people have a learning style. Some are visual learners, some are audio learners, and some are kinesthetic learners. Many people prefer to combine the learning styles. HPS is mainly directed at kinesthetic learners who prefer hands-on demonstrations, so it may not be an effective learning source for all nursing students. Shinnick and Woo (2015) of Nurse Education Today believe that “educators can confidently utilize HPS as an adjunctive teaching method for today's technology driven students in order to blend theory and practice as knowledge gains will be achieved in prelicensure nursing students of different learning styles” (Shinnick & Woo, 2015, pp. 66-67). HPS has become quite popular among both students and educators alike; however, Shinnick and Woo (2015) recommend “research replication in different settings (i.e., lab and in situ) to validate these findings among other prelicensure nursing students as well as experienced nurses in multiple disciplines” (Shinnick & Woo, 2015, pp. 66-67). In other words, before depending upon an HPS, nursing educators should test the simulator themselves and ask their peers to do so also.
Because nursing is a profession where trust must be established between caregiver and patient, having nurses who are confident in their clinical skills is important. Powell-Laney, Keen and Hall (2012) of Education for Health argue that any teaching method that increases the ability of nurses to manage patient care with confidence should be used in nursing education (Powell-Laney, Keen, & Hall, 2012, p. 11). These researchers also point out, “Healthcare is considered a high-hazard industry. To reduce risk, repetition in responding to similar clinical problems and choosing a response for a variety of patients, such as those experiencing a myocardial infarction, should increase the ability of the healthcare provider to respond quickly and adjust for differences presented by each clinical scenario” (Powell-Laney, Keen, & Hall, 2012, p. 12). These types of scenarios can be achieved through HPS.
On top of that, students may be more interested and engaged in HPS because it uses recent technological innovations and that may help to stimulate interest. Negrão Baptista, Amado Martins, Carneiro Ribeiro Pereira, and Mazzo (2014) of the Journal of Nursing Reference tell how in their experience students have expressed great satisfaction with HPS not just because it is a recent innovation, but because it will also objectively evaluate their performance of the clinical skill they are practicing (Negrão Baptista, Amado Martins, Carneiro Ribeiro Pereira, & Mazzo, 2014, p. 139). Feedback is always useful especially when learning life-saving skills
Since HPS does not do harm, and many students and educators like it, it seems as if the
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