Human Patient Simulation Evaluation Rubrics for Nursing Education: Measuring The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice

With the call for curriculum that meets the educational needs of nurses in the 21st century, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing provided nine essentials for baccalaureate nursing education in The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, which serves as a critical guide to inform and shape baccalaureate nursing program curricula. Nursing programs must demonstrate program outcomes that reflect all of the essentials. Human patient simulation was specifically acknowledged as an appropriate educational tool for meeting these needs. This article identifies and assesses six rubrics purported to measure outcomes of human patient simulation and evaluates how these rubrics measure outcomes reflecting the baccalaureate essentials. Psychometric data were limited for the majority of the rubrics, especially validity data. The rubrics consistently failed to measure Essentials V and VII. Suggestions for how these Essentials might be integrated into the existing rubrics are provided.