Code Simulations and Death: Processing of Emotional Distress

It is important for nursing students to be exposed to critical patient care scenarios because high stress clinical situations, such as patient codes, occur unexpectedly and infrequently in the clinical setting. In addition, it is important for nursing students to be exposed to the reality of patient death in order to help them overcome fears associated with death and to develop effective coping strategies. Students may or may not have an opportunity to deal with patient codes or patient death in the clinical setting, therefore simulation labs provide students with the opportunity to practice important clinical skills and discuss emotions in a safe environment. Although there is some research on the benefits of incorporating end-of-life patient care scenarios in simulation labs, there is no research that analyzes students’ perceptions of the benefits of participating in simulated code scenarios and their emotions following patient simulated death. A pilot study was conducted to assess students’ views on the benefits of participating in simulated code scenarios in which a patient dies and the effectiveness of the debriefing session in processing emotions related to the lab experience.