Enhancing the Structural Competency of Nurses Through Standardized Patient Simulation
Lead Author: Zvika Orr, PhD
Submitted by: Marsha Harman, Rush Center for Clinical Skills and Simulation
Structural competency is a new conceptual and educational framework for training health professionals to discern and respond to the impact of social, political, and economic structures on health. This article discusses a new online standardized patient simulation method that enhances the structural competency of nurses and nursing students. This method has been used to train nurse practitioner students. The article suggests that simulation-based learning can help nurses translate the theoretical comprehension of macro-level forces into clinical practices. This method expands the nurses' perspective, develops their social-political awareness, and encourages them to lead interventions. This simulation can contribute to dismantle structural racism and reduce health inequities.
The article includes a description of one of the scenarios used and a selection of the nursing students’ responses to experience.
Read the full article in Clinical Simulation in Nursing here.
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