YEREVAN, Armenia — On March 18, sophomore students in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program participated in an immersive simulation focused on the management of a patient following a stroke. The exercise involved one student assuming the role of a patient who had experienced a left-sided stroke resulting in right-sided weakness, right visual field loss, and impaired communication.
Students portraying the patient role had their right arm immobilized, their right eye covered with a patch, and were not allowed to use verbal communication—relying instead on nonverbal sounds such as moaning or groaning. Both the “nurse” and the “patient” were given separate sets of instructions, without knowledge of each other’s directives. After 30 minutes, roles were reversed, ensuring that all students experienced both perspectives.
Throughout the simulation, students demonstrated high levels of engagement and commitment to their roles, while having light hearted moments of fun that contributed positively to their learning. The debriefing session revealed that the simulation objectives were successfully achieved, despite many students not having any prior experience caring for patients who experienced a stroke. Students playing the patient expressed their feelings of helplessness, not feeling human, and frustration from the inability to communicate. One of the students taking on the role of the nurse reflected on the challenges she experienced, “I felt frustrated because I deeply wanted to support the patient, but I struggled to understand their needs”.
Simulation is a powerful teaching tool in nursing education that tackles the learning of psychomotor, cognitive, and affective domains, and it’s an opportunity for students to apply critical thinking in various scenarios. During this simulation, students developed the compassionate insight needed to make critical decisions regarding patient safety, such as feeding and ambulation, by experiencing the emotional and physical challenges of a stroke patient. Students also demonstrated knowledge application through conducting neurological assessments and practiced essential clinical skills, like supporting patients with tasks requiring fine motor coordination.
This hands-on approach allowed students to build empathy, strengthen clinical skills, and better understand the complexities of patient care — an experience that will undoubtedly shape their nursing practice.
The AUA Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian College of Health Sciences works actively to improve population health and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of health professionals to be leaders in public health, nursing, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.
