OADN has received requests for information that can be used for state-level advocacy, particularly in regards to regulations that govern simulation and clinical hours.  Individual states regulations in these areas this vary considerably.  Regardless of how your state regulates clinical nursing education, it is important to rely on research and evidence-based practice in your arguments for regulatory changes.

For guidance on academic-practice partnerships, look above under “Returning Students to Clinicals and Labs,” where OADN and other national nursing organizations joined with NCSBN to recommend one possible strategy for clinical education during the pandemic.

Below are some resources to support you in your advocacy and program changes as it relates to clinical education hours and simulation:

• Annotated Bibliography of scholarly research that may be of use in crafting or justifying program changes in your state. This is an open access, evolving resource.  (To view attachments, a free Zotero account is required.  Sign-up at zotero.org.)
• One example: The nursing programs in Washington state joined to request several key changes to the regulation of clinical nursing education, including the amount of simulation permitted and the ratio of simulation to traditional clinical hour time.  These letters rely on the latest research on the issues: Nursing Education and COVID Pandemic March 30 2020 FINAL
  • 4/6/20 Read the state government’s response to the deans and directors of Washington state.
• Using Virtual Patient Simulation in Substitution of Traditional Clinical Hours in Undergraduate Nursing presented at the 2018 Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Education Research Conference