When Is It Okay to Cry? An End-of-Life Simulation Experience

This article details how a small college of nursing affiliated with a faith-based health care corporation integrated the education of end-of-life care into a megacode simulation. Students participated in a high-fidelity simulated megacode scenario in which the simulator died. Following debriefing, student groups participated in an additional scenario in which faculty coached them through postmortem care and interaction with a family member and a hospital chaplain. As a result of this multidimensional, interprofessional simulation, students developed heightened skill in applying basic life-saving measures, increased knowledge of and comfort with postmortem care, and increased awareness of the emotions elicited by the experience.