Enhancing Simulation-Based Educational Training

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Posted on October 26, 2023

Joy Washington

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Simulation scenarios will help future nurses better care for the underserved by collaborating with clinical partners to expand nursing education.

The University of South Alabama’s College of Nursing was recently awarded a three-year $1.3 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to support the applications and enhancement of simulation-based educational training. This also includes implementing content focused on the priority areas of maternal and child health, behavioral/mental, and survivors of abuse. South was one of 22 proposals funded nationwide.

“Simulation-based education provides a transformational learning experience,” said Dr. Heather Hall, dean of USA’s College of Nursing. “Overall, simulated training is beneficial. Increasing the use of learning technology, which includes healthcare simulation, helps nursing students be better prepared to save lives in real-life clinical situations. And, I am pleased with the work that Dr. Lori Prewitt Moore and her team have achieved in securing this grant.”

The proposed project, Serving the Underserved by Collaborating with Clinical Partners to Expand Nursing Utilizing Simulated Scenarios, known as SUCCESS, is recognized as a comprehensive program intended to design, implement and evaluate an innovative approach to nursing education at South Alabama’s College of Nursing.

“The SUCCESS project will support the application and enhancement of simulation-based educational training by adding specific content focused on the priority areas of maternal and child health, behavioral/mental, and survivors of abuse,” said Project Director Dr. Lori Prewitt Moore, assistant professor and South SANES program coordinator. “These priority areas will be added to the nursing curricula and simulation experiences for traditional and accelerated undergraduate nursing students. Academic clinical faculty will utilize simulation to increase the student’s readiness for practice while meeting the needs of medically underserved areas.”

The goal of the SUCCESS project is to increase the number and capacity of nursing students addressing healthcare needs and improve patient outcomes in rural and medically underserved communities.

Based on a 2022-2024 Community Needs Assessment organized by Southwest Alabama of community residents and healthcare leaders’ perceptions of health in Mobile and Baldwin counties identified several problems, and they were:

Child Abuse and Neglect
Cancer
Domestic Violence
Rape and Sexual Assault
Drug Use and Abuse
Mental Health problems
Heart Disease and Stroke

The SUCCESS program will also focus on the following clinical priority areas:

Maternal and Child Health
Behavioral/Mental Health
Survivors of Domestic Abuse
Intimate Partner Violence
Childhood Obesity
Opioids/Substance Use Disorder

“The needs assessment identified that caring for patients suffering from mental health was the most difficult to provide in the region,” Moore said. “The simulation at South Alabama is incredible. We are looking forward to the first cohort of the SUCCESS project to begin spring semester 2024.”

USA’s College of Nursing and Health Simulation faculty team members also supporting the SUCCESS program are Associate Professor Dr. Joyce Pittman; Associate Professor Dr. Anjanetta Davis; Assistant Professor Dr. Rebecca Thomas; Assistant Professor Dr. Ashleigh Bowman; Research Assistant Professor Dr. Candice Selwyn; and Instructor Brady Urquhart. Clinical collaborating partners in the medically underserved areas will include USA Health Children’s and Women’s Hospital, the Strada Patient Care Center, Victory Health Partners, and the Baldwin County Public School System.

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