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This poster presentation addresses the NONPF Role Core Competency – NP domain 1: knowledge of practice (NP 1.3g: demonstrate clinical judgment to inform and improve NP practice – advanced assessment). Nurse practitioners have become one of the most in-demand healthcare professionals while coalescing at a time that the US population is aging. The traditional, campus-based ground nurse practitioner programs have been unable to keep pace with expanding demand. Online nurse practitioner programs have seen significant growth. Online education provides working adults the opportunity to flex their lives and work around their education. Online innovations are continuously being explored and developed to improve the learning experience. We are a large online university providing NP programs to residents in California, Florida, and Texas, including adult gerontology primary care and acute care nurse practitioner and family nurse practitioner programs. The university’s innovation lab partnered with PC Sparks to develop a tailored virtual SIM clinic using artificial intelligence (AI) gaming technology. The SIM clinic consists of 20 virtual patients with varying ages and chief complaints. Our NP programs implemented the virtual SIM clinic in our advanced health/physical assessment course to augment the course learning by providing students to practice history taking and physical assessment skills in a safe environment. The gaming technology uses a state-of-the-art conversation engine and interactive modeling for students to practice collecting health histories, performing assessments, and practicing documentation. This technology is cloud-based and students engage with virtual clinic patients on their personal devices, as well as using 3D virtual reality headsets. The course design team, innovation lab team, PC Spark, and nursing faculty worked together in creating the various patient cases. The virtual SIM clinic was placed into courses for in the January 2023 start. Preliminary data from the end of one term demonstrates positive outcomes and satisfaction from students. There were positive trends from pre- and post-implementation for OSCE scores, course grades, and student confidence in history and assessment skills. There will be data from 4 terms and data will be shared comparing pre- and post-implementation outcomes.
Learning Objective:
After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.