Foreword

By David Marshall, JD, DNP, RN, FAAN, FAONL

My earliest introduction to caring for others was when I was an 11-year-old Boy Scout earning my very first merit badge—the first aid badge. I remember the first time I pinched a bandage between my fingers and carefully rolled it around an ankle. I learned to splint a fracture, apply pressure to stop bleeding, and use lifesaving resuscitation techniques.

Even after 35 years as a licensed professional, I trace my desire to become a nurse to this first spark of knowledge that I could help alleviate someone's pain and suffering—maybe even save a life—with those basic skills I practiced on my fellow Scouts using supplies our leader wrangled from a local hospital. This feeling has sustained my nursing career at the bedside and as an executive.

Another important lesson of that first merit badge is the crucial role simulation plays in acquiring skills. Instead of practicing on my fellow Scouts, though, I work at an institution that has a state-of-the-art center with computer-controlled virtual patients that can breathe, bleed, and blink. We can practice high-fidelity simulations—everything from delivering a baby to performing an emergency intubation. Well beyond the basics I approached in boyhood, we re-create realistic scenarios for every imaginable aspect of acute care, ambulatory care, critical care, procedures, and surgeries.

Rapid innovations and advances in technology make this an incredible time to work in patient care. At the same time, our patients are increasingly sophisticated. Even the simplest online search turns up in-depth information about patient outcomes and safety. Nurses have never been asked to do more, and the expectations placed on them have never been higher. Simulation is our best training tool, allowing an interdisciplinary team to practice as a cohesive unit. It's also a powerful tool for achieving what every caregiver ultimately wants most: better outcomes for our patients.

This compassionate drive to be the best we can be for our patients fuels the culture of learning in nursing. We are never done training. We are never done acquiring and honing our skills. Day after day, I see nurses balance efficiency, effectiveness, and technical proficiency with personal caring to meet the diverse needs of their patients. Every day that nurses report to their unit, round on a patient, or scrub in for surgery, they encounter something new. The only prescription for handling the unexpected is again borrowed from my Boy Scout past: Be prepared.

Janice Palaganas, Beth Ulrich, and Beth Mancini recruited the finest interprofessional simulation experts to contribute to this volume. It serves as a practical guide for practitioners and students alike to translate the potential of simulation as a training tool into a powerful instrument that improves the outcomes of patients at their own institutions.