Expanding the Use of Simulation in Nurse Practitioner Education: A New Model for Teaching Physical Assessment

• Expanding the use of simulation in nurse practitioner education: a new model for teaching physical assessment.
• This report presents a model for teaching assessment skills using stimulated patients in the lab instead of community clinic settings.
• NP students practice the new skills in simulated clinic and homelike settings.
• Cases are coordinated with skills taught each week allowing for practice while taking an active nurse practitioner role.
• Students receive immediate feedback from instructor, peers, and patient to increase confidence and competence.

Nurse practitioner students in their first clinical semester must practice performing health histories and physical assessments, and develop diagnostic reasoning skills. The development of these skills is often dependent on the availability and teaching readiness of the clinical preceptor. This article describes a different model for teaching assessment skills and for mentoring new nurse practitioner students. The course was conducted in a simulated clinic setting biweekly throughout the semester, using coordinated cases with simulated patients (SPs). The students take an active role in assessing SPs with consistent oversight and immediate feedback from faculty, peers, and SPs.