Simulated patients can take many forms, yet they all serve the same purpose: to provide a safe and controlled environment for nurses to practice their skills. Nurses can make mistakes and learn from them without putting real patients at risk. Some simulated patients have been standardized patients (SPs) who have been coached so well that clinicians may not know the difference. Now, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) has allowed this area of health care to become even more effective thanks to the realistic nature of the calls they provide, and the ability to customize them. Here’s why your triage nurses would do well to train with it.
1. Simulated Training Improves Nurse Confidence and Patient Outcomes
Studies have found that nurses who train with simulated patients are more confident and competent in their skills. They’re also able to provide high-quality care to their patients, which leads to better patient outcomes.
The same is true for triage nurses who answer patient phone calls and evaluate their symptoms. By practicing how to ask the right questions, document all symptoms, and anticipate worst-case scenarios, these nurses are able to provide the best dispositions on the types of care that patients should seek.
By extension, this helps patients learn when it is or isn’t appropriate for them to seek out emergency care, translating to better health outcomes for them, and larger revenue savings for their providers (especially when their clinics aren’t overwhelmed).
2. Simulated Training Improves Muscle Memory
The more you practice a behavior, the more it becomes second nature. Nurse triage training is a unique environment unto itself, requiring not only specific skills from nurses, but also the right mindset on how they should interact with patients prior to any physical examination. This comes down to how well nurses: 1) document their calls with triage software; 2) use nurse triage protocols to evaluate patient symptoms; 3) hone their listening skills to understand each patient; and 4) empathize with patients to earn their trust.
Triage nurses rely solely on their communication skills to gather information and provide appropriate care. By practicing with simulated patients, they can learn how to ask the right questions, elicit important information, and provide appropriate care based on each specific patient’s needs.
3. Simulated Training Offers a Wide Range of Scenarios
Simulated patients can be used to train nurses on a wide variety of patient encounters they are likely to have in their careers. For example, a simulated patient may be experiencing chest pain, or they may be angry and upset.
Ideally, these training scenarios will begin with simple exercises so that nurses can become familiar with the 10-step process they should follow, and the types of questions they need to ask. Then, more complicated scenarios can be used to test their knowledge and ability to handle upset patients, those who are difficult to understand, and how to overcome other aspects like background noise that may interfere with their calls.
TriageLogic’s AI Training With Simulated Patients
TriageLogic is excited to offer nurse triage training that uses artificial intelligence to simulate real-life scenarios. We created this solution for three reasons:
- Most simulated patients in traditional triage training are seasoned triage nurses. This means that a live manager needs to spend the time and resources training another nurse. Using computer simulated training relieves managers of this responsibility and lets them focus on taking live calls.
- Training evaluators can spend more time coaching new nurses based on their individual performance, rather than administering these exercises directly.
- Providers are given access to trackable results for all nurse training performance.
- All training is consistent and standard across nurses.
How does our nurse training module accomplish these?
- Trainees are given reference materials for review, including key concepts and our 10-step process for every nurse triage call.
- Nurses start training with basic situations that prompt them with the steps they need to take and the questions they should ask.
- Training simulations become progressively more difficult, omitting steps and questions so that nurses must use what they’ve learned to address each simulated patient’s symptoms thoroughly and accurately.
Each situation can be taken multiple times for improved scores. Each can also be customized so that the caller’s voice and tone, attitude, gender, and surrounding environment influence their reactions and the progression of a given scenario.
After completion of an exercise, a transcript is generated that provides performance feedback. Similar to another AI-based tool that we offer, this solution is self-guiding, meaning that normal trainers and triage nurses don’t have to spend time administering it — they can simply review its results and give pointers as needed.
Let’s Talk About Your Nurse Triage Training
Training with simulated patients is a critical step in ensuring that nurses are well-prepared to provide high-quality care in real-world situations. By creating a safe and controlled environment for nurses to practice their clinical skills, simulated patients allow nurses to make mistakes and learn from them without putting actual patients at risk.
If you’d like to discuss how our program can benefit your team of healthcare professionals, let’s schedule time for a call.
About TriageLogic
TriageLogic is a URAC-accredited, physician-led provider of top-quality nurse telehealth technology, remote patient monitoring, and medical call center solutions. Founded in 2007, the TriageLogic Group now serves more than 22,000 physicians and covers over 42 million lives nationwide.
