Effect of Faculty Training on Improving the Consistency of Student Assessment and Debriefing in Clinical Simulation

• Increasing faculty understanding of debriefing enhances the learning experience.
• Unbiased student assessments increase the quality of simulation.
• Students reported that Debriefing for Meaningful Learning was the most effective aspect of the simulation.
• Simulation is perceived as more educational when structured debriefing is included.

Simulation is a teaching strategy that is supported in the nursing literature. The simulation experience can be segmented into distinct areas of focus: the development of the evidence-based scenario, the method used to assess the students' performance, the technique used to debrief the participants, and the overall perception of enhanced clinical judgment skills of the students. The challenge faculty encounter when using simulation is a lack of knowledge in assessing student performance and debriefing methodologies. The purpose of this article is to describe one school's journey in improving the student learning experience in simulation. The adoption of an evidence-based approach to teach faculty assessment techniques and debriefing strategies after simulation are examined. The use of the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument and the Debriefing for Meaningful Learning methodology are studied. The aim in providing faculty with additional training was to promote a more thoughtful approach to simulation as a teaching strategy.