An Interprofessional Branching Simulation to Introduce RN First Assistant Students to Their Role in the Perioperative Setting.

Simulation can be an effective tool for educating health profession students and can enhance interprofessional education by involving roles across multiple disciplines. Perioperative nurse educators at one institution used a five-part branching simulation of preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative events for a single patient undergoing a procedure to introduce RN first assistant (RNFA) students to their role in the perioperative environment. The simulation participants included student RN anesthetists, a surgeon, an RN circulator (played by an actor), and a standardized patient. The objectives for this simulation were to assess the implementation of the didactic RNFA curriculum and to enhance the RNFA students' transition into their role in the perioperative setting. The simulation and multiple debriefings reinforced the concepts of role acquisition, surgical conscience, closed-loop communication, and interprofessional collaboration. Perioperative nurse educators can use this type of educational activity to teach these concepts to their students.