High-Fidelity and Gaming Simulations Enhance Nursing Education in End-of-Life Care

Abstract 

Existing research suggests that nursing education has not adequately prepared nurses to provide quality end-of-life care. As the population in the United States ages and chronic diseases increase, the number of dying patients will also increase. It is now more important than ever that nurses provide high-quality end-of-life care to those patients dying in hospitals or other inpatient facilities. Opportunities to care for dying patients are often unavailable to students in traditional clinical settings. This article describes the use of simulation as an innovative teaching strategy to prepare students in providing end-of-life care. The authors describe how an end-of-life scenario using high-fidelity simulation and an experiential gaming simulation, Seasons of Loss^©, were used to enhance the curriculum on end-of-life care presented to nursing students.

KeyWords: critical thinking skills, end-of-life care, end-of-life scenarios, experiential learning, gaming, nursing education, simulation