International Journal of Healthcare Simulation

Background and aim:

The ‘Standards Framework for Nursing and Midwifery Education’ set out by the Nursing and Midwifery Council states that nurses are expected to develop ‘supervision and leadership skills’ [1]. However, band 5 nurses at a NHS Trust indicated their reticence about taking on ‘nurse in charge’ roles and wanted to build their confidence in engaging in challenging conversations with an assertive approach. As an education provider, we worked alongside the Trust nursing practice development team to develop and deliver a simulation-based workshop to help improve band 5 nurses leadership skills through simulated scenarios. The workshop was integrated into a leadership development day.

Activity:

To encourage all nursing staff to ‘embrace their inner leader’, The Royal College of Nursing described five ways to do so – be a role model, show emotional intelligence, motivate others, create shared goals and display courage [2]. Scenarios, with actors, were developed to allow practice of these strategies whilst having difficult conversations from within a leadership role and included: listening to a colleague with personal difficulties, dealing with angry relatives, supporting a patient after unwelcome news and discussing with a clinician concerns about professionalism and kindness. Participants were provided a communication framework (STEPS: start, time, empathy, provision of support, sense check)) to assist their preparation, pacing, framing and summarizing.

Findings:

Of the 12 sessions completed (n = 180 participants) the feedback thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. Comments from attendees to date include:

Everyone was so brilliant! I was so nervous about the simulation but (the facilitator) has been wonderful. Actors were amazing.

Facilitators have been so kind and knowledgeable.

Attending this study day has given me better confidence in my own ability to be in charge and deal with challenging situations.

STEPS has given me a very good guide in dealing with professional communication as a nurse in charge.

Live actors are very beneficial for us as it gives us real life actions to follow and deal with daily situations in the ward.

Immersive and interactive.

Conclusion:

This simulation-based workshop developed with RCN leadership values in mind, has supported 180 band 5 nurses with their leadership roles. It has been immensely well received and has assisted these nurses in their workplaces. Based on the success of the first 12 sessions, 12 additional sessions are planned with pre and post feedback data from attendees being collated for analysis.

Ethics statement:

Authors confirm that all relevant ethical standards for research conduct and dissemination have been met. The submitting author confirms that relevant ethical approval was granted, if applicable.