I have been a nurse educator at OHSU since 1999. I have found my greatest challenges and biggest rewards in clinical education – teaching students the bedside application of nursing science to help patients' adapt to health care alterations. I have been immersed in simulation education since 2006. I have developed manikin-based simulations as well as simulations for use with standardized patients. In addition to my work in the graduate program teaching new nurse educators how to teach with simulation, I am also responsible for the ongoing development of our campus faculty competency in simulation teaching. While I hold my undergraduate students to the goal of developing competence in implementing national standards of best nursing practice, I hold myself and to a similar goal; my educational methods need to reflect an evidence base that supports their use.  

My simulation research has two broad arms. First, I am interested in how this educational method has the potential to change student attitudes, values and perspectives. This drove my interest in researching the impact of simulation on attitudes toward poverty as well as attitudes toward schizophrenia. Vulnerable populations are stigmatized by healthcare providers and simulation seems an ideal approach to alter student perspective. My second major research interest is student performance appraisal. The ultimate purpose of nursing education is to produce competent, caring nurses. Simulation is a logical location for evaluation of student ability. I have been conducting end-of-year benchmarking simulations since 2006. These benchmarks are currently aimed at determining level of student ability in 6 competencies –clinical reasoning, anticipatory thinking, patient safety, skillfulness, evidence based care, and patient-centered care. I am in the process of validation studies on the performance appraisal instrument.