The Use of Simulation to Teach Nursing Students and Clinicians Palliative Care and End-of-Life Communication: A Systematic Review:

Objectives:To present the findings of a systematic review on the use of simulation-based learning experiences (SBLEs) to teach communication skills to nursing students and clinicians who provide palliative and end-of-life care to patients and their families.Background:Palliative care communication skills are fundamental to providing holistic patient care. Since nurses have the greatest amount of direct exposure to patients, building such communication competencies is essential. However, exposure to patients and families receiving palliative and end-of-life care is often limited, resulting in few opportunities to learn these skills in the clinical setting. Simulation-based learning experiences can be used to supplement didactic teaching and clinical experiences to build the requisite communication skills.Methods:Searches of CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, ERIC, and Web of Science electronic databases and Grey Literature returned 442 unique records. Thirty articles met the established criteria, including the SB...