Anesthesia Simulation in Cardiac Surgery (ASICS).

Nurse anesthesia programs are stressful, with routine information overload, immersion into new environments, and financial stressors. One strategy to combat this stress is to practice clinical skills in the less intimidating and safe environment of simulation. Evidence strongly suggests that simulation is an important component of a well-rounded nurse anesthesia program. However, no simulation literature was found to assist the transition of student registered nurse anesthetists (SRNAs) into their cardiac anesthesia rotations. The purpose of this evidence-based practice improvement project was to create an open-heart surgery simulation that supplemented the cardiac curriculum of second-year SRNAs, in order to improve self-efficacy prior to their cardiac clinical rotation. Twenty-three SRNAs, enrolled in a nurse anesthesia doctorate of nursing practice program, participated in the anesthesia simulation in cardiac surgery. After the students' anesthesia simulation experience, they shared in a debriefing session and completed a survey-based evaluation. When SRNAs were asked their level of agreement to the statement "I am confident that I am developing the skills and obtaining the required knowledge from this simulation to perform necessary tasks in a clinical setting," the mean score was 4.61, with 5 indicating strongly agree. Overall, SRNAs agreed that skills they learned in the simulation would transfer to their cardiac rotation.