Using clinical reasoning and simulation-based education to ‘flip’ the Enrolled Nurse curriculum

Objective: This paper describes the development and implementation of an innovative Diploma of Nursing curriculum for preparing Enrolled Nursing students for acute care nursing practice.

Setting: Vocational Education and Training at the Health Education and Research Centre in Hobart, Tasmania.

Subjects: Vocational Education and Training students enrolled in the Diploma of Nursing (Enrolled-Division 2 Nursing) (HLT51612).

Primary Argument: The increasing complexity and acuity of contemporary practice environments requires a nursing workforce that is flexible and competent. In 2013 nurse educators developed an innovative approach to offering the national standardized Diploma of Nursing course that integrates three key pedagogical approaches: the ‘flipped classroom’, simulation-based learning and the Clinical Reasoning Cycle.

Conclusion: By ‘flipping the curriculum’ students are provided with opportunities to develop and extend their clinical reasoning skills as they respond to both routine and unpredictable ‘patient’ scenarios in the safety of a simulation environment. These simulated clinical learning experiences are designed to challenge students to ‘think like a nurse’ while actively engaging in the provision of safe and effective ‘patient’ care.