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Camosun College nursing students bring their virtual A-game

Saanich college develops simulation to aid in training of nursing students
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Camosun students film footage for the new virtual simulation game at the Alex and Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness. (Photo courtesy of Camosun College)

A virtual, made-in-Camosun solution to the reduction of in-person patient care during the pandemic is helping nursing students get in the game.

“We put together a total, high-impact, low-cost filmed production that aims to bridge theory and practice,” says Kerry-Ann Dompierre, Camosun College’s simulation education coordinator, who led the game’s development team. “The simulation shows a series of videos that play out different scenarios for the student nurses, so they see a simulated experience of a patient who’s having respiratory distress, and then they have to make a decision. Whatever decision they choose plays out to a specific outcome and they can go back and change that decision as part of the learning cycle.”

The footage for the simulation was shot at Camosun’s Alex and Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness at its Interurban campus. All the participants were either faculty, staff or students.

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“A big part of simulated learning is authenticity and realism,” adds Dompierre. “The incredible new centre for health and wellness at Camosun, especially the dedicated fourth floor simulation space, has all of that and I couldn’t have thought of a better place to film it.”

The simulation game, called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Exacerbation is designed for intermediate level nursing students at Camosun and partner institutions. It is hosted on the website of the Canadian Alliance of Nurse Educators using Simulation (CAN-Sim), and under an open access, creative commons licence, is available to the global medical education community for free.

“We have collaborated with an international group of educators to create and freely share a Camosun-developed resource. This in turn creates the potential for future collaborations and sharing of resources in several key areas,” said Dompierre.

Dompierre has big plans to build on the success of Camosun’s first simulation, both at the college and in terms of a broader, community application.

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“It’s one of those silver linings of the pandemic that even as we transition back to more of a normal, in-person learning environment, the simulation offers a very important, intentional way of learning which I love,” she said. “It perfectly complements clinical experiences and I think the two together are ideal. In the end, we aim to develop the next generation of nurses who can handle any situation they are thrown into, pandemic or not.”

To test drive the simulation game, visit the CAN-Sim.ca website. For more information about Camosun’s Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing program, visit the nursing department website.


 

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