Using Simulation to Train Nurse Residents on Bedside Legal Ethical Dilemmas

Abstract

Problem: Nurse residents at a medium-size urban medical center reported a gap in knowledge on how to handle legal-ethical issues at the bedside. Objective: To develop a sustainable approach to integrate legal-ethical simulations into a nurse residency curriculum. Methods: In this quality improvement project, classroom content on ethics was replaced by a ten-minute presentation followed by two simulations depicting legal-ethical dilemmas at the bedside. The project leader designed the two legal-ethical simulations using a format consistent with the NLN/Jeffries simulation design. The topics of the simulations were cancer and pneumonia. The simulations for the first nurse resident cohort (N=9) were directed by the project leader; after training, the nursing residency coordinator directed the second cohort (N=19). Targeted training for nurse educators was also developed. Prior to and after the simulation, students completed a ten-item test to measure legal-ethical knowledge. Immediately after the simulation, students also completed the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning questionnaire, a 13 item Likert scale, 1= strongly disagree to 5 =strongly agree. Results: Comparison of pre and post legal-ethical knowledge scores showed a statistically significant increase in scores (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test p < .001, effect size medium to strong, r = .48). Scores for the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning showed consistency. There were no significant differences in scores between cohorts (Mann-Whitney U =256, z= 1.39, p= .1, two tailed) or between simulations (Mann-Whitney U= 371, z= 0.11, p= .9 two tailed). Implications: Providing nurse residents with a ten-minute presentation and two simulations appears sufficient to refresh knowledge of basic legal-ethical concepts. Satisfaction and self-confidence scores were high after each of the two simulations, suggesting that their implementation in the residency program could assist in filling the reported knowledge gap.