The future of nursing education
Where science meets simulation. Where innovation meets compassion.

It's one of the biggest factors in how prepared you'll feel on your first day of clinicals. Simulation lets you practice high-stakes moments, like a patient who is deteriorating or a difficult family conversation, before you face them at the bedside. The evidence supports this. A landmark study by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing found that simulation can effectively replace up to half of traditional clinical experience in core prelicensure nursing courses. When the facility belongs to your school, simulation is built into your courses throughout the program. It isn't limited to the times a hospital has space available.

Almost every nursing program uses simulation in some form, but the quality varies widely. Some schools run dedicated, fully staffed centers. Others share space with partner hospitals or rely on a small skills lab. When you compare programs, ask who owns the space, how often you'll use it, and who leads the scenarios. At the College of Nursing, simulation spans the CU Anschutz Campus, Legacy Innovation Campus, and Fort Lewis College, totaling 20,401 square feet- the largest nursing simulation space in the Rocky Mountain region.

Look for range. The strongest programs combine several types of simulation:

• Task trainers for repeated hands-on skill practice
• High-fidelity manikins that respond to your care in real time
• Standardized patients (trained actors) for communication and mental health scenarios
• Virtual reality for emergencies that are rare but critical

Just as important is the debrief afterward, where you reflect on your decisions with faculty. Much of the learning happens there. CU Anschutz Nursing offers manikins that breathe and speak, dedicated task trainers, professional actors for mental health interactions, and immersive VR emergencies.

Accreditation or endorsement means independent experts have reviewed the program against national best practices, so you don't have to rely on the school's own description. Recognition in this field is selective. For example, only about 250 institutions worldwide hold accreditation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare. In 2024, CU Anschutz Nursing earned the Healthcare Simulation Standards Endorsement from INACSL, which recognizes excellence in prebriefing, debriefing, facilitation, and professional integrity.

Simulation and clinical placements work as a pair. In the sim center, you build skills and confidence in a setting where mistakes become lessons rather than risks to patients. At your placements, you apply those skills with real patients alongside experienced nurses. CU Anschutz Nursing students train at some of the region's leading health care settings, including Children's Hospital Colorado, UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, hospitals and clinics in Durango, and the college's own nurse-led clinics in the metro area, which offer care ranging from primary care to midwifery. Students who have already rehearsed a rapid response or a medication error in simulation arrive at clinicals ready to contribute.

Standardized patients are trained actors who play the role of a patient, or sometimes a family member, in a scripted scenario. They are coached to present the same symptoms, history, and emotions every time, so each student works through the same challenge and is assessed fairly.

Manikins are excellent for practicing clinical skills, but they can't reproduce the human side of care. Standardized patients can. They let you practice:

• Communication: taking a health history, explaining a diagnosis, or answering questions from a patient who is scared or skeptical
• Difficult conversations: delivering bad news, de-escalating a patient who is upset, or supporting a family in crisis
• Mental health care: recognizing and responding to anxiety, depression, or suicidal thinking with sensitivity
• Assessment: performing a physical exam on a real person who can respond to what you do

Many standardized patients also give feedback afterward on how your words, tone, and body language came across. That perspective is hard to get anywhere else. At CU Anschutz Nursing, professional actors bring mental health scenarios to life, so students can build confidence in some of nursing's most sensitive conversations before they have them with real patients.