Use of Simulated Telenursing With Standardized Patients to Enhance Prelicensure Nursing Education

Abstract

Background: 

Telenursing is a growing field in health care but remains underutilized as a clinical learning opportunity in the prelicensure nursing curriculum.

Problem: 

Prelicensure nursing students need exposure to telenursing as an educational modality, which can serve as an alternative opportunity for clinical hours where facilities and resources are limited.

Approach: 

Using standardized patients and a web-based videoconferencing platform, faculty developed an innovative, simulated telenursing encounter to expose nursing students to virtual patient care scenarios. The effectiveness of this learning experience was evaluated through student-teacher satisfaction debriefing and student performance on content-related examinations.

Outcomes: 

Students scored higher on targeted examination questions than students from the same cohort who did not participate in the telenursing encounter. In addition, students voiced increased comfort and confidence with conducting patient interviews, providing patient education, and debriefing.

Conclusion: 

Using a simulated telenursing encounter is useful in prelicensure nursing education by exposing students to patient interaction outside of traditional clinical settings and reinforcing essential nursing concepts.