Stories Of Bad Sims - Narrated By Students

How bad are bad sims, actually? Students tell it like it is.

Patient dies in first semester nursing

I don’t know about you guys but when I was in nursing school, I was TRAUMATIZED by a sim that we did. We were in a group, had a patient that needed morphine, and the order was for 30 mg. This was first semester nursing so we didn’t know what the heck normal dosage for morphine was. So we gave it and the patient died. Then we had more over the course of the program that were designed for us to screw up. Afterwards, we would almost be judged for how we acted/“treated” the patient. - New Grad/BumbleBee266

Going into sim with no prep

Because of a missing instructor situation, nobody told us that we were supposed to prelab/look up data on our patients before coming into sim, and she would also try her best to make us screw up. If the students were doing too well, she would just make up a scenario on the fly that would cause them to mess up and then afterward would laugh at everyone and point out everything they did wrong. And it was our first sim experience ever! It was awful, and I dreaded sim from that point on. However, last semester, my instructor was way better and would actually walk everyone through what was going on with the patient and what to expect. He'd push us out of our comfort zones, but only just enough to challenge us to learn. I don't fear sim as much as I used to, but it can definitely turn into an experience that isn't as supportive as it should be. - LittleCatFriend

Fear, intimidation and sarcasm

Our sims (and check-offs) were very based in fear and intimidation and our instructor loved to watch us panic and fail. During our first ever check-off, I remember I was already super nervous because they had given us exactly 1 week (with only 2 open lab half-days) to learn and perform the full head-to-toe assessment and I was brand new. When I went to actually do my HTT check-off, I remember doing something and the lab instructor who was checking us off immediately went (in the most sarcastic, condescending tone) “OH, REALLY? Is that how you would do that? HMMM OK! Interesting! Who taught you how to do it that way?” And I literally said “Sarah from RegisteredNurseRN on YouTube” ?? because they literally had not given us any guidance in the lab whatsoever. The instructors were all on their phones looking at Facebook, not caring what we were doing, unless we had a question and then they would answer it with no intention of giving a thorough explanation. It was awful. And while going through my residency, before our sims, my anxiety was at an all-time high with the PTSD from school. Only to find that they were so much more willing to teach and it was in no way punitive. It was so different than what I was used to. - HmmLetMeThinkAboutIt

No pre-briefing

My first sim of nursing school was just to obtain a stool sample and change a bed pan on a patient with suspected C. Diff. At this point we had 1 class in a skill lab just going over assessment questions and putting on PPE. WELL this lady threw the 2 poor girls into the room while the rest of us watched on the cameras. We had no explanation of what to do. No idea what to do. None of us had been taught how to do anything they asked minus the PPE and general questions. It took them forever trying to figure out what to do because we literally had 0 explanation or prior training. The berating they got after it was insane considering none of us would've done good nor understand what to do. - RoseMist101

Professor expects students to be sleuths

During my third semester of my LVN (Licensed Vocational Nursing) program, I had sim with this professor that would always kill my patient if I didn't check every single thing. We had one sim about asthma, and my patient ended up coming back in a body bag because I didn't notice a smudge that was suppose to indicate abuse in the household and I got covid from my patient. - Flashy-Dot-7738

No amount of prep is sufficient

Yeah they tried to trick us at every step. We did have to do med cards though for each med we could potentially give the simulation patient. That helped a lot. I always over prepared for sims and never really did well since they did something we couldn’t have prepared for. - Pickle-Kickerr

Students need fidget toys and anti-anxiety supplements

Yep, every sim is designed with stuff on purpose that we’ve never been taught, on purpose to put us on the spot, and often things that might kill a patient, cause us to get fired, or get us legally in trouble. She purposefully tries to throw us off or put us on the spot. First two semesters I was so anxious, which caused even more anxiety for the next time, and it just kept building. I’m in my third semester and I’ve finally started to feel like I’m in more control of the anxiety. The instructor puts a box of fidget toys in the room where we are waiting for our turn bc she knows we’re stressed. I started taking anti-anxiety supplements before class and switched to half caff coffee or tea on those days. Edit to add: the instructor has improved how she debriefs us, so it’s more encouraging. She tells us what we did well, and she tells us the mistakes we made in a way that is more patient and understanding (like explaining why she presented that situation and how it will help us in real situations, how it relates to real situations she or other nurses have actually been in, explains on detail the things we need to know about those issues, and doesn’t make us feel bad about not knowing. - Sufficient-Skill6012

Every patient could die

My SIM experience in school was VERY traumatic. Every patient was on the verge of dying or it was possible to kill them. I would always have to take anxiety medications BEFORE they started and was still in a full sweat by the end of them where they would nitpick that you called provider too much or not enough. People have been put on Learning Contact due to med errors in SIM. I’m so glad the nursing world outside of school is not like that. The new grad SIMs are helpful in teaching you how to react and chart the right things etc. - BubbleLuvr

This blog post explored shocking stories of bad healthcare simulations that are shaping medical education experiences. Nursing students reveal their most traumatic sim encounters.

From unexpected patient deaths to intimidating instructors, these tales highlight critical issues in healthcare education.

Poor simulation practices impact learning outcomes and student confidence.

Whether you're a healthcare educator, simulation specialist, or medical student, these real-world accounts offer valuable insights into improving simulation-based training.

What do you think of these bad sims?

Comment.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/StudentNurse/comments/119854e/for_all_the_students_doing_simulations/