Nurse Educator Resources

Advancing Care Excellence (ACE) Series is an ongoing NLN initiative to improve the quality of care for vulnerable or underserved populations. ACE programs provide free teacher-ready curriculum tools, including unfolding case studies, that can be used in a wide variety of environments including hospitals, rehabilitation centers, long-term care facilities, and community settings. ACE features seven populations. Each population has unfolding cases and teaching strategies.

Every ACE unfolding case uses the highly regarded unfolding case model developed for Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors (ACE.S). Each case includes the following:
• A first-person monologue that introduces the family and the complex problems they are facing.
• Simulation scenarios designed to help students practice assessing function and expectations of their patient(s), with links to appropriate evidence-based assessment tools.
• An innovative final assignment that asks students to finish the story.
• Instructor toolkits with suggestions on how to use the various components of the unfolding cases and incorporate them into the curriculum.
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Unfolding cases combine the power of storytelling with the experiential nature of simulation scenarios. They are intended to create a robust, meaningful experience for students, one that provides a simulated experience of continuity of care and that will help them integrate the Essential Knowledge Domains and Nursing Actions into their practice of nursing.

The Open RN project is developing 25 virtual scenarios with three potential levels of student access. The first two levels require the institutional purchase of an Acadicus VR software license for one or more “virtual spaces.” Open RN simulation scenarios can be run in these virtual spaces with multiple student groups, similar to a simulation lab, but in a virtual space. The first level of access allows students to become totally immersed in a virtual reality scenario in the virtual space by using a gaming laptop and Oculus Rift-S headset. Alternatively, as a second level of access, a faculty member can log into Acadicus, screenshare the virtual reality scenario with students in a classroom or learning remotely, and lead them through the clinical judgments required to complete the virtual simulation.

A third level of access allows students to easily complete free, online, asynchronous virtual simulations that are accessed by clicking on a hyperlink. No special equipment or software is required. Open RN virtual simulations are created using H5P software and have CC-BY licensing. Virtual simulations are incorporated into the Open RN textbooks as learning activities and are also available by clicking the button below. Media used in these virtual simulations has been uploaded to the Open RN YouTube channel with CC-BY licensing. Media contains patient videos, family member videos, nurse handoff reports, and interprofessional team communication.