Minka house provides ideal setting for hospice simulation training

When it comes to teaching nursing students about caring for hospice patients at home, there's no place like USI's Minka house. The compact home serves as a simulation lab to study aging in place and to train future healthcare professionals.

Dr. Ryan Butler, assistant professor of nursing, and Amy Pierce, instructor in nursing, designed two hospice simulations in the Minka to provide senior-level students in their Nursing 461 course the opportunity to care for patients who are nearing the end of life.

During the semester's second simulation on November 26, Carly Andrews, coordinator of clinical simulations for the College of Nursing and Health Professions, played the role of a hospice patient dying of cancer. Students first led conversations about end-of-life decisions and later attended to the patient throughout the dying process.

"Using the Minka for this simulation gave the students an atmosphere that is different from a hospital setting," said Andrews. "We tried to simulate an actual home environment, with the TV in the background and all of the other home furnishings, so that students can see what it is like to enter a patient's home, conduct assessments and have difficult conversations with family caregivers."

The simulation was live streamed to a classroom in the Health Professions Center so Nursing 461 students could observe their peers participating in the hospice scenario. A volunteer hospice nurse from the community was also present to provide feedback and help students debrief.