The synchronous group virtual simulation experience: Associate degree nursing students' perceptions.

The use of virtual simulations exponentially increased as nursing schools experienced an urgent need to integrate online educational technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore associate degree nursing students' perceptions about the comprehensive Synchronous Group Virtual Simulation educational strategy. This strategy was developed based on the National League for Nursing Jeffries Simulation Theory (JST) and the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best PracticeTM, including structured synchronous prebriefing and debriefing stages. Content analysis revealed 12 recurrent themes, from which 10 positive themes strongly correlated with concepts of the JST. Our findings support the effectiveness of a high-quality synchronous virtual simulation-guided by an empirically supported simulation theoretical framework and evidence-based simulation best practice standards-can be realistic, experiential, interactive, collaborative, learner-centered, and promote simulation participant outcomes.

Importance Ranking of Electrocardiogram Rhythms: A Primer for Curriculum Development.

INTRODUCTION: Electrocardiogram interpretation is an essential skill for emergency and critical care nurses and physicians. There remains a gap in standardized curricula and evaluation strategies used to achieve and assess competence in electrocardiogram interpretation. The purpose of this study was to develop an importance ranking of the 120 American Heart Association electrocardiogram diagnostic labels with interdisciplinary perspectives to inform curriculum development. METHODS: Data for this mixed methods study were collected through focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews. A card sort was used to assign relative importance scores to all 120 American Heart Association electrocardiogram diagnostic labels. Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data on participants' rationale for the rankings. RESULTS: The 18 participants included 6 emergency and critical care registered nurses, 5 cardiologists, and 7 emergency medicine physicians. The 5 diagnoses chosen as the most important by all disciplines were ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, atrial fibrillation, complete heart block, and normal electrocardiogram. The "top 20" diagnoses by each discipline were also reported. Qualitative thematic content analysis revealed that participants from all 3 disciplines identified skill in electrocardiogram interpretation as clinically imperative and acknowledged the importance of recognizing normal, life threatening, and time-sensitive electrocardiogram rhythms. Additional qualitative themes, identified by individual disciplines, were reported. DISCUSSION: This mixed-methods approach provided valuable interdisciplinary perspectives concerning electrocardiogram curriculum case selection and prioritization. Study findings can provide a foundation for emergency and critical care educators to create local ECG educational programs. Further work is recommended to validate the list amongst a larger population of emergency and critical care frontline nurses and physicians.

Using Simulation to Enhance Global Nursing.

In light of the technological, social, and political changes taking place in the world today, it is important that nurses are not just culturally competent but globally informed and engaged. The goal of this paper is to help nurses help their patients and themselves to benefit from globalization. The use of guided simulation, virtual reality, and augmented reality learning experiences is considered for each of five areas of global nursing; global aesthetics, global intelligence, global ethics, global politics, and global health. This approach invites nurses and student nurses to discern new patterns, take charge of their learning, and build multiple iterations to facilitate the processing of new and different information and "realities."