Submitter Information

Author: Tara Heagele, MSN Ed., RN, PCCN
Title: Educator
Institution: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton
Email: theagele@rwjuhh.edu
Coauthors: Elizabeth Mizerek, MSN, RN, CEN, FN-CSA, EMT-B

Competency Category(s)
Evidence-Based Practice, Informatics, Patient-Centered Care, Quality Improvement, Safety, Teamwork and Collaboration

Learner Level(s)
Continuing Education, New Graduates/Transition to Practice, Pre-Licensure ADN/Diploma, Pre-Licensure BSN, RN to BSN, Staff Development

Learner Setting(s)
Classroom, Clinical Setting, Skills or Simulation Laboratories

Strategy Type
General Strategy

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this simulation clinical, students will:

–         Describe the nurse’s role, how the nurse can protect the
safety of himself/herself and the patients, and the role of the
healthcare facility during a disaster.

–         Successfully triage victims of a mass casualty event as evidenced by correct triage tag designations.

–         Successfully perform a rapid trauma assessment on two
victims, as evidenced by observing the students follow the Trauma Nurse
Core Curriculum ABCDEFGHI method of rapid trauma assessment.

–         Apply, administer and perform all necessary nursing interventions to the simulation manikins with traumatic injuries.

–         Recognize the patient or designee as the source of control
and full partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care based
on respect for patient’s preferences, values and needs.

–         Function effectively within nursing and inter-professional
teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared
decision-making to achieve quality patient care.

–         Integrate best current evidence with clinical expertise and
patient/family preferences and values for delivery of optimal health
care.

–         Use data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and use
improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve
the quality and safety of health care systems.

–         Use information and technology to communicate, manage knowledge, mitigate error, and support decision making.

Strategy Overview

Educator will assign 2-4 students to triage 15 patients. Discuss
each patient scenario with the class and decide if each patient was
triaged appropriately. Transition the clinical group to the Emergency Department. The student nurses will assume the care of Patient 9 and Patient 11.

Submitted Materials

Additional Materials

Evaluation Description

This simulation clinical was used five times between February 2012
and September 2012 with last semester nursing students in an ADN
program. Pre and post conference discussion questions (provided in the
materials) resulted in a lengthy discussion about the nurse’s role in a
mass casualty incident during each simulation clinical day. Motivation
to participate in disaster drills and emergency preparedness was a
recurrent theme during the discussion.