Authoring Simulations for High Stakes Student Evaluation

Although simulation methods have primarily been used for teaching in nursing education, there is a growing interest in the use of simulation for student and program evaluation. Developing simulation scenarios for high stakes evaluation differs from traditional teaching/learning scenario authorship in a number of ways. This manuscript describes the process used to write, pilot test, and revise scenarios used in the National League for Nursing High Stakes Testing feasibility study. Observations and reported differences in scenario development and facilitation may provide insight to others regarding the best use of summative simulation scenarios

Creating a Professional Development Plan for a Simulation Consortium

As the United States struggles with health care reform and a nursing education system that inadequately prepares students for practice, dramatic advances in educational technology signal opportunities for both academic and practicing nurses to affect our profession as never before. Simulation technologies provide large and small institutions with the means to educate health care students and novice professionals effectively and efficiently through hands-on experience, but the costs of such a venture can be prohibitive. A simulation consortium offers a venue for different health care and educational institutions with shared goals to pool knowledge, monies, and labor toward health care education throughout a geographic area. This article details one Midwestern U.S. region's work in creating a professional development plan for a new simulation consortium

Complete genome sequence of Hirschia baltica type strain (IFAM 1418T)

The family Hyphomonadaceae within the Alphaproteobacteria is largely comprised of bacteria isolated from marine environments with striking morphologies and an unusual mode of cell growth. Here, we report the complete genome sequence Hirschia baltica, which is only the second a member of the Hyphomonadaceae with a published genome sequence. H. baltica is of special interest because it has a dimorphic life cycle and is a stalked, budding bacterium. The 3,455,622 bp long chromosome and 84,492 bp plasmid with a total of 3,222 protein-coding and 44 RNA genes were sequenced as part of the DOE Joint Genome Institute Program CSP 2008