At a meeting of the SONAM team responsible for nursing students’ utilisation of CIME, the Director was thanked by Assistant Dean, Rubina Barolia, for imposing a change that eventually made a big difference in students’ experiences of simulation, and an improvement in their competence as a result. What was this cutting edge, state of the art innovation? Sad to say it was nothing more than removing seating from simulated practice areas! Students were no longer allowed to vegetate while waiting to practice. It doesn’t happen in hospital wards, therefore why should students lol around crowding out simulated wards? Neither should they be taking notes. Or being lectured to. They should be having active simulated experiences to later reflect on. Working. On their feet.
Changing one part of a system has consequences for the whole system. Perplexed at first, vocal and resistant, when faced with no choice (and no seats) over the past two years faculty have embraced the change and created smaller groups, more active simulation activities and increased student ‘time on task’. The net result? Anecdotally, faculty say that students are now better engaged, better supervised and are developing skills in a more rigorous way. All because they’re not allowed to sit!
We have recently found a new home for 40 beautiful, hand-made 2-seater wooden benches. They are fantastic for plantpots, vegetation, and vegetating nurses wherever these need to be cultivated, but definitely not in CIME.
At a meeting of the SONAM team responsible for nursing students’ utilisation of CIME, the Director was thanked by Assistant Dean, Rubina Barolia, for imposing a change that eventually made a big difference in students’ experiences of simulation, and an improvement in their competence as a result. What was this cutting edge, state of the art innovation? Sad to say it was nothing more than removing seating from simulated practice areas! Students were no longer allowed to vegetate while waiting to practice. It doesn’t happen in hospital wards, therefore why should students lol around crowding out simulated wards? Neither should they be taking notes. Or being lectured to. They should be having active simulated experiences to later reflect on. Working. On their feet.
Changing one part of a system has consequences for the whole system. Perplexed at first, vocal and resistant, when faced with no choice (and no seats) over the past two years faculty have embraced the change and created smaller groups, more active simulation activities and increased student ‘time on task’. The net result? Anecdotally, faculty say that students are now better engaged, better supervised and are developing skills in a more rigorous way. All because they’re not allowed to sit!
We have recently found a new home for 40 beautiful, hand-made 2-seater wooden benches. They are fantastic for plantpots, vegetation, and vegetating nurses wherever these need to be cultivated, but definitely not in CIME.