The use of simulation in teaching and learning in nurse education is gaining momentum, as a result of a growing body of evidence which notes its efficiency and effectiveness. Simulation resources for nurse education are continually being developed in different countries across the globe. These resources are largely for local use in a respective entity, context or country. This project seeks to address the prevalent lack of universal simulation resources. In essence, through transnational collaboration, this project seeks to develop a simulation kit - comprising three simulation resources- which has universal relevance. The outcomes of this project will showcase Erasmus+ programme's contribution towards enabling nurse education to embrace the prevailing digital era in which it currently exits.Ten partners will plan, develop, use and evaluate a simulation kit, which will thereafter be freely accessed through the University of Malta website for a defined period of time. Three experts, all authorities in the field of nurse education, from three different continents - Australia, Africa, Asia- will contribute to the project as consultant/ advisors, thus enabling a wide comprehensive universal relevance of the simulation kit. The project, its results, and intellectual outputs will be widely disseminated through various channels and networks of each and every partner. In addition, the project will develop and provide (deliver) an innovative appropriate and adequate training opportunity to two individuals from each of the ten participating partners, towards becoming "Simulation Champions", at a respective partner institution. The introduction of such training and the development and designation of such champions, is believed to hold the key towards the further development, and increased use of simulation, at the partner institutions. This training course will provide a direct opportunity to extend and develop nurse educators' competence. Information seminars and a conference meeting will serve the purpose of heightening the awareness and the knowledge of educators, students, and relevant stakeholders regarding the use of simulation in teaching and learning. The result and outputs of the project should enhance students' learning , which may in turn translate into enhanced patent care delivery and thus, improved patients' experience and satisfaction. This is the eventual all important goal of the project. The planned dissemination processes will hopefully translate into a widespread knowledge regarding the project. Every partner is tasked with the organisation or co-ordination of at least one output, event, or activity ensuring reasonable distribution of work and budgets and enabling maximal collaboration across the partners. The applicant partner will oversee the entire project against the support of UEPA (Malta) and respective relevant structures within the University of Malta.
The use of simulation in teaching and learning in nurse education is gaining momentum, as a result of a growing body of evidence which notes its efficiency and effectiveness. The objectives of this project were to address the lack of universal simulation resources particularly in relation to community care. This project sought to develop a simulation kit - comprising three simulation resources- which could be used across different countries. All the ten partners listed in section 2.1 below, participated in the planning, development, and evaluation of a simulation kit named NURSKit, which is now freely accessible for the next two years through the University of Malta website: https://www.um.edu.mt/projects/ispad/about-us-2/. The NURSKit includes three different scenarios. Each scenario comes with a kit for the facilitator who will be guiding the students during this scenario, pre-scenario resources to prepare the students for the activity and post-scenario resources to enable the carrying out of the student debriefing session. Scenario 1 focuses on a person living in the community without established chronic disease, but with multiple risk factors. This scenario was developed by Lahti University of Applied Sciences, SAMK University , University College Dublin ( leader) Scenario 2 includes a person living with diabetes and experiencing psychosocial issues as a consequence of his chronic condition. This scenario was developed by Molise University, Turku University, Cardiff University ( Leader). Scenario 3 focuses on end of life care. This scenario was developed by Middlesex University, Oslomet University , JAMK ( Leader). The University of Malta was responsible for overseeing the development of all three scenarios. Three experts, all authorities in the field of nurse education, from three different continents - Australia (Professor Simon Cooper from the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare, Federation University Australia), Africa (Professor Abeer Saad Eswi, Cairo University, Egypt), Asia- (Professor Cho Eun-Jung, Yeungnam University College, South Korea) contributed to the project as consultant/ advisors, thus enabling a wide comprehensive universal relevance of the simulation kit. The second objective of the project was to develop and deliver an innovative training programme to two individuals from each of the ten participating universities, with the aim of them becoming "Simulation Champions", at their own respective partner institution and championing the development of simulation. This training programme was developed by the University of Lahti and the University of Malta. The programme was delivered jointly by the two universities in 2017. Twenty participants successfully completed the training programme. These participants were academics from each of the 10 participating orgnisations (section 2.1). Two academics from each of the universities were trained in the use of simulation. This training programme entitled "Simulation In Nurse Education" (SINE) Champion Award Certificate" included 5 ECTS at EQF level 6. The training programme and simulation kit were both evaluated. The training programme was evaluated through the use of focus groups with the participation of the trainers who delivered the programme and the students who took part in the programme. The feedback on the training programme was very positive and this programme is now available for delivery by other institutions who may wish to run this programme within their own entity. The NURSKit was evaluated through the use of an online survey which was designed to measure students' knowledge and self-reported competence before and after following the simulation exercise. The students were also included in a number of focus groups to identify their experience in participating in the project. The feedback on the NURSkit was also very positive. The research study indicated that students improved in terms of knowledge and perceived competence with the use of all three scenarios. This suggests that this NURSkit is a useful tool for the teaching and learning of community related nursing. The long term benefits are that both the NURSKit and the training programme which have been developed are available for the use of other Universities via the University of Malta website and can be applied on a universal scale.