Table 2 Brief description of the three-part SIM activity

1. Rehearsal—90 min

 Students refreshed the skills likely to be required in the SIM. In groups of three, students rehearsed techniques in the context of two patient case studies with guidance provided by a clinical facilitator^a. Immediately prior to the end of part 1, students watched a short video of the SIM activity with roles played by clinicians who modelled holistic practice.

2. SIM—45 min

 There were three SIM scenarios facilitated by academics. Students actively participated in a role in one scenario then observed peers enacting roles in other scenarios.

 Students were required to exhibit communication techniques through a patient education scenario. Roles included the following: an anxious mother, an adolescent son who was not engaged with his asthma management and a practice nurse. This scenario was run twice requiring three students to demonstrate an interaction with less effective communication and then another three students to demonstrate effective communication techniques.

 The third scenario allowed the other six students to engage in roles. The scenario was an elderly male patient (manikin) experiencing chest pain who then deteriorated and required CPR. The patient’s voice was allocated to one student (in the control room); another two students enacted the roles of wife and daughter; and the remaining three students (in nursing roles) provided CPR, initiated assistance by telephone and interacted with the family to explain the situation.

3. Debriefing—45 min

Facilitated debriefing by the academics occurred in a number of ways: for example, a short debrief occurred immediately following each communication scenario, then a longer debrief occurred after the final CPR scenario. Time was available during the longer debrief to revisit and discuss points of interest or contention from any of the three scenarios. The debrief was structured using pre-determined trigger questions to elicit students’ thoughts about what was observed, overall performance and responses to the situations, teamwork, communication and clinical decision making.