Medication errors pose a significant threat to society. Because many mistakes are made during the administration phase, nurses should be educated early in practices congruent with safe medication practice. A quasi-experimental quality improvement project was conducted to examine the effect of simulation on safe medication practice for diploma/ADN nursing students. Although student performance during live medication administration was not enhanced following simulation, this educational strategy was beneficial in promoting the contextual use of pharmacologic knowledge, clinical reasoning, and interdisciplinary communication. (C) 2013 National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.