In Nursing school, I’m not sure I ever fully appreciated the value and resource of simulated learning, or the necessity of doing things over, and over again . Maybe like many of my fellow students, I was very frustrated, embarrassed that I had to perform the skill again, and again, and again, and certainly wanting to hide rather than do it in front of the watchful gaze of many people - (until I finally got it right).
Currently at the college, we are working on some skills, which to experienced nurses may seem basic, and simple - except it’s not. The basics require arduous study, discipline, focus, precision, and repetition, so tensions are high - I look at it from the perspective of the students, and my heart goes out to them in memory. But I am also looking at it in a new light; a different level of comprehension as to how imperative it is that nurses grasp the basics - before they build into a catastrophic event.
We are seeing frustration daily as students work with manikins, we see them scoff that they aren’t real, which is understandable; manikins can’t really tell you when they’re in pain, but they do perform a vital role in allowing us to practice over and over again, before we actually get to a patient - it costs the students time, but it helps to prevent serious errors happening to actual patients. We watch as students grow tired of performing their manual blood pressures, many times inaccurately - the repetition is likely irritating to students; but we are actually visualizing how such a marked change in reading the correct numbers could drastically affect how they treat blood pressures on future patients, and how haste, or misunderstanding of this basic skill could potentially hurt a patient. We have a choice, it’s not as easy as I would have thought, to be honest. Do we cave in, when they’re visibly upset, and pass them in empathy? Or do we encourage stronger nurses, building on that empathy, with patience, time and accuracy? I may not have appreciated my educators (or the manikins) back then, their thought process, or any of the behind the scenes intricacies that help evolve our practice, but now I sure as heck acknowledge their time, tolerance, and commitment to excellence in nursing.