Developing audiovisual simulations for pain assessment


Michelle Kelly (Professor of Nursing at University of South Australia) recently delivered a keynote presentation at the 12th ACU Simulation in Health Education Showcase in Melbourne. Michelle shared aspects from an ongoing body of work based on co-design and co-production to inform the simulation content. The context for these simulations was pain assessment, with the intent of surfacing learners’ personal and professional biases on patients' experiences. In creating the case studies, the research team worked with health consumers, pain service nurse consultants, and other clinicians to ensure that the design and focus of the resources were authentic and accurate representations of clinical scenarios. Working with actors and a director who was also a nurse and actor, the team developed contemporary, realistic AV simulations and evaluated these with nursing students and new graduate nurses. A particular technique of ‘talking to camera’ added a personal touch of the actor nurse sharing their thinking with those watching the simulation. The intent was always to model ideal professional practices, and feedback from participants reflects this technique as a powerful and impactful way to promote learning.

Related publications

Slatyer, S., Myers, H. and Kelly, M.A. Understanding Nurse Characteristics that Influence Assessment and Intention to Treat Pain in Postoperative Patients: An Integrative Literature Review Pain Manag Nurs 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2022.03.003

Kelly, M.A., Slatyer, S., Myers, H. Gower, S., Mason, J. and Lasater, K. Using Audio-Visual Simulation to Elicit Nursing Students’ Noticing and Interpreting Skills to Assess Pain in Culturally Diverse Patients Clinical Simulation in Nursing 2022 Vol. 71, pages 31–40 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2022.06.003