Expanding Simulation to Teach Family Nursing

Caring for families during an illness experience is increasingly recognized as a core of nursing practice. Yet research reports deficiencies in the current state of family nursing care. It is possible that these deficiencies are rooted in a lack of integrating family care throughout nursing education and a focus on the biomedical science paradigm. As a relational skill, family care requires different pedagogical approaches to effectively teach family nursing. Simulation is one such approach. Even though simulation is rapidly moving into nursing education, the primary focus is teaching psychomotor nursing skills, rather than caring and family nursing.