Effect of simulation on nursing knowledge and critical thinking in failure to rescue events.

Failure to rescue events are hospital deaths that result from human error and unsafe patient conditions. A failure to rescue event implies that the last and best chance to avoid tragedy is not acted on in time to avoid a disaster. Patient safety is often compromised by nurses who do not perform accurate assessments (vigilance), do not detect clinical changes (surveillance), or do not display critical thinking (recognition that something is wrong). This project used simulation as a teaching strategy to enhance nursing performance. Medical-surgical nurses took part in a simulated failure to rescue event in which the patient's clinical condition deteriorated rapidly. Nursing knowledge and critical thinking improved after the simulation and showed the effectiveness of simulation as a teaching strategy to address nursing knowledge and critical thinking skills. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.