RIC’s Sadlon earns international award

Rhode Island College’s Penni Sadlon, simulation coordinator/educator at the college’s School of Nursing, was recognized by Education Management Solutions LLC with the 2016 Champion Award. She received the award at the organization’s International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare in San Diego. The award honors one individual who has actively championed state-of-the-art simulation-related technology for a simulation center.

Sadlon has led efforts to incorporate simulation throughout the undergraduate and graduate curriculum at the School of Nursing. She also developed a graduate assistantship in simulation for nurse practitioner students and will incorporate clinical nurse specialist students in the upcoming academic year. Under her tenure, RIC’s Simulation Center and Nursing Resource Lab received accreditation in teaching and education from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare in 2014.

Simulation gives students the opportunity to experience clinical situations they may not otherwise encounter in their clinical practicums. At the RIC Simulation Center, Sadlon and her team conduct more than 20 different simulations each semester, ranging from pediatrics to adults. RIC’s 450 students pursuing a B.S. in nursing (B.S.N.) participate in simulations, as do some 100 R.N.-to-B.S.N. and 100 M.S.N. students. In addition, students from other schools within RIC participate in simulations, including, for example, social work students.

“I work with student nurses very closely and take them slowly into the full spectrum of simulations,” said Sadlon. “We observe, assess, make a plan, implement the plan and finally we evaluate outcomes.” Following each simulation, Sadlon facilitates a debriefing with the student nurses. “Students learn by seeing, speaking for themselves and hearing themselves speak,” she said. I want them to reflect on what happened, why it happened and why they made certain decisions.”

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Simulation is a fairly new method of experiential learning, with only 50 percent of schools in the United States developing simulation programs, said Sadlon, who worked as a nurse for 30 years before coming to RIC as simulation coordinator/educator.

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