Nursing Simulation for Nursing students | Shadow Health (2025)

Table of Contents
“Health Assessment has really improved my assessment skills, and how to do different types of focused assessments that I do not ordinarily do. It also makes me think deeper about how the different systems interact with one another, and reminds me that all are vitally important.” - Nursing Student “Pharmacology helped to improve my therapeutic communication as well as interview effectively so I could get the necessary information needed to properly care for my patient.” - Nursing Student “Shadow Health provides many helpful tactics to help assess a patient in real life. I tried to assess someone before I even took a look at Health Assessment and I was clueless. After looking at these assignments, things became so much more easier on me. I started imagining myself working on Tina Jones and pretty much bringing the assignment to life.” - Nursing Student “Shadow Health has helped me gain better assessment skills. This is something that all new nurses should have the chance in participating in to get more comfortable with the question/answer part of assessments. Gerontology is helpful in the fact that we will be facing or maybe have already faced the elderly patient with cognitive deficits. The way in which we need to addressed certain questions and situations will be different. I appreciate the practice.” - Nursing Student “This Mental Health assignment helps to explain mental status exam better, and allows you to practice assessment skills that are needed for nursing. You also get to encounter different types of patients with unique mental illnesses which is very helpful!” - Nursing Student “I feel that Shadow Health is a great way to practice providing care virtually and prepare for real-life experience because it has really made me think about how to ask questions and work on getting better at asking questions. I would recommend others to use the Pediatrics DCE as it does challenge critical thinking skills.” - Nursing Student “I love being able to practice my skills prior to being in an actual clinical settings. Certain assessment findings require follow up, and I struggle with that currently but Health Assessment allows me to have the time to correctly formulate my thoughts. I think this is a great learning tool!” - Nursing Student “Shadow Health is a wonderful tool that all nursing students should use. I love this way of learning because it is very interactive. I find Pharmacology assignments are a very simple and easy way to learn medications. They give me the opportunity to learn patient interaction and teaching, as well as, medication management and my personal education of the different types of medications, what they're used for, side effect, and dosages.” - Nursing Student “I am glad we were given the chance to practice on a geriatric patient because when it comes to real life I find myself nervous but eager to help. This simulation gave me the chance to practice my therapeutic communication skills.” - Nursing Student “I find this Mental Health DCE has helped me in many aspects of my nursing career. I am a returning student but I am still a practicing nurse and Shadow Health has improved my skills as a nurse, in and out of the classroom.” - Nursing Student “Through Shadow Health, I have gotten way better at my patient interviews and am able to gain the client's trust and establish a great rapport with the pediatric client and their family in the clinical setting. ” - Nursing Student “I found this very valuable to my learning. I liked how I was responsible for the teaching and conversations with the patient. It pushed me to recall my knowledge and put it in to practice.” - Nursing Student “I believe the Maternal Health simulation helped me learn how to improve on my education and how to teach a mother what to do in all parts of labor. I learned that I need to work on helping a timid patient feel more comfortable during my assessment.” - Nursing Student “Taking Shadow Health's Leadership simulation has forced me to think beyond the scope of everyday delivery of nursing care. It forces me to think as a leader and how to handle interprofessional communications. In addition, it has helped with talking to and solving everyday problems with patients in a very professional manner without hurting anyone while adhering to organization's policies and procedures.” - Nursing Student “As I continue to complete assignments within Shadow Health I am increasing my understanding of many aspects of nursing. I am utilizing aspects of nursing that I haven't had the opportunities to do in my clinical setting so far. An example from the Leadership assignments is the use of SBAR while communicating to a health care provider.” - Nursing Student “The Advanced Pathophysiology exercises review the knowledge that I learned in the patho course which reinforces my skills in clinicals as a nurse practitioner.” - Nursing Student “I absolutely love my Shadow Health assignments. I am so thankful for the visual animations of certain processes. The Advanced Pathophysiology DCE has seriously been helpful to me to be able to understand fully certain concepts, even though I've been a nurse for 16 years.” - Nursing Student “The Advanced Diagnostics exercise helps me think critically in finding the right diagnostic test to support my differential diagnosis. This simulation will help me through my NP program and be able to utilize in the clinical settings.” - Nursing Student “Advanced Diagnostics is a really great learning experience. It really aids in the clinical thinking processes and helps with understanding how to diagnose!” - Nursing Student “Utilizing Shadow Health has greatly assisted me not just being more proficient at the patient interview, but also being more comfortable in my interview skills of asking appropriate and relevant questions toward the patient's care. The Advanced Pharmacology interactive sessions are also extremely helpful in visualizing the actual patient and body system involved making it more personal.” - Nursing Student “I love Shadow Health. It helps me with patient assessment questions, prescribing and critical thinking about how to best treat my patient. It also makes me think about improving on my assessment and communication skills with patients. I would highly recommend this product in that the virtual reality patients made me feel like I was the provider. Thank you Shadow Health for solidifying my reason for becoming an APRN.” - Nursing Student “I really enjoy the content provided by Shadow Health and feel that I am getting a lot of experience and gaining knowledge by using this Advanced Health Assessment program. I was able to further develop my assessment skills through this assignment and further develop my ability to put together a plan of care based on my assessment.” - Nursing Student “This AHA simulation is as real as it gets to actually examining and interacting with a patient. I learned to ask more probing questions to define, qualify, and quantify answers of the patient to facilitate a differential diagnosis.” - Nursing Student FAQs

“Health Assessment has really improved my assessment skills, and how to do different types of focused assessments that I do not ordinarily do. It also makes me think deeper about how the different systems interact with one another, and reminds me that all are vitally important.” - Nursing Student

“Pharmacology helped to improve my therapeutic communication as well as interview effectively so I could get the necessary information needed to properly care for my patient.” - Nursing Student

“Shadow Health provides many helpful tactics to help assess a patient in real life. I tried to assess someone before I even took a look at Health Assessment and I was clueless. After looking at these assignments, things became so much more easier on me. I started imagining myself working on Tina Jones and pretty much bringing the assignment to life.” - Nursing Student

“Shadow Health has helped me gain better assessment skills. This is something that all new nurses should have the chance in participating in to get more comfortable with the question/answer part of assessments. Gerontology is helpful in the fact that we will be facing or maybe have already faced the elderly patient with cognitive deficits. The way in which we need to addressed certain questions and situations will be different. I appreciate the practice.” - Nursing Student

“This Mental Health assignment helps to explain mental status exam better, and allows you to practice assessment skills that are needed for nursing. You also get to encounter different types of patients with unique mental illnesses which is very helpful!” - Nursing Student

“I feel that Shadow Health is a great way to practice providing care virtually and prepare for real-life experience because it has really made me think about how to ask questions and work on getting better at asking questions. I would recommend others to use the Pediatrics DCE as it does challenge critical thinking skills.” - Nursing Student

“I love being able to practice my skills prior to being in an actual clinical settings. Certain assessment findings require follow up, and I struggle with that currently but Health Assessment allows me to have the time to correctly formulate my thoughts. I think this is a great learning tool!” - Nursing Student

“Shadow Health is a wonderful tool that all nursing students should use. I love this way of learning because it is very interactive. I find Pharmacology assignments are a very simple and easy way to learn medications. They give me the opportunity to learn patient interaction and teaching, as well as, medication management and my personal education of the different types of medications, what they're used for, side effect, and dosages.” - Nursing Student

“I am glad we were given the chance to practice on a geriatric patient because when it comes to real life I find myself nervous but eager to help. This simulation gave me the chance to practice my therapeutic communication skills.” - Nursing Student

“I find this Mental Health DCE has helped me in many aspects of my nursing career. I am a returning student but I am still a practicing nurse and Shadow Health has improved my skills as a nurse, in and out of the classroom.” - Nursing Student

“Through Shadow Health, I have gotten way better at my patient interviews and am able to gain the client's trust and establish a great rapport with the pediatric client and their family in the clinical setting. ” - Nursing Student

“I found this very valuable to my learning. I liked how I was responsible for the teaching and conversations with the patient. It pushed me to recall my knowledge and put it in to practice.” - Nursing Student

“I believe the Maternal Health simulation helped me learn how to improve on my education and how to teach a mother what to do in all parts of labor. I learned that I need to work on helping a timid patient feel more comfortable during my assessment.” - Nursing Student

“Taking Shadow Health's Leadership simulation has forced me to think beyond the scope of everyday delivery of nursing care. It forces me to think as a leader and how to handle interprofessional communications. In addition, it has helped with talking to and solving everyday problems with patients in a very professional manner without hurting anyone while adhering to organization's policies and procedures.” - Nursing Student

“As I continue to complete assignments within Shadow Health I am increasing my understanding of many aspects of nursing. I am utilizing aspects of nursing that I haven't had the opportunities to do in my clinical setting so far. An example from the Leadership assignments is the use of SBAR while communicating to a health care provider.” - Nursing Student

“The Advanced Pathophysiology exercises review the knowledge that I learned in the patho course which reinforces my skills in clinicals as a nurse practitioner.” - Nursing Student

“I absolutely love my Shadow Health assignments. I am so thankful for the visual animations of certain processes. The Advanced Pathophysiology DCE has seriously been helpful to me to be able to understand fully certain concepts, even though I've been a nurse for 16 years.” - Nursing Student

“The Advanced Diagnostics exercise helps me think critically in finding the right diagnostic test to support my differential diagnosis. This simulation will help me through my NP program and be able to utilize in the clinical settings.” - Nursing Student

“Advanced Diagnostics is a really great learning experience. It really aids in the clinical thinking processes and helps with understanding how to diagnose!” - Nursing Student

“Utilizing Shadow Health has greatly assisted me not just being more proficient at the patient interview, but also being more comfortable in my interview skills of asking appropriate and relevant questions toward the patient's care. The Advanced Pharmacology interactive sessions are also extremely helpful in visualizing the actual patient and body system involved making it more personal.” - Nursing Student

“I love Shadow Health. It helps me with patient assessment questions, prescribing and critical thinking about how to best treat my patient. It also makes me think about improving on my assessment and communication skills with patients. I would highly recommend this product in that the virtual reality patients made me feel like I was the provider. Thank you Shadow Health for solidifying my reason for becoming an APRN.” - Nursing Student

“I really enjoy the content provided by Shadow Health and feel that I am getting a lot of experience and gaining knowledge by using this Advanced Health Assessment program. I was able to further develop my assessment skills through this assignment and further develop my ability to put together a plan of care based on my assessment.” - Nursing Student

“This AHA simulation is as real as it gets to actually examining and interacting with a patient. I learned to ask more probing questions to define, qualify, and quantify answers of the patient to facilitate a differential diagnosis.” - Nursing Student

Nursing Simulation for Nursing students | Shadow Health (2025)

FAQs

Does simulation help nursing students? ›

Simulation labs are a critical component of your nursing education, allowing you to: Become confident dealing with high-pressure situations. Learn from your mistakes in a safe, supportive environment. Gain experience with conditions you may not encounter during clinicals.

What are the limitations of simulation in nursing education? ›

Simulations provide students with a safe environment to practice skills as much as needed without harming patients. However, they can be costly, they cannot replicate the clinical situation, and they can cause students to learn incorrect information if designed poorly.

How effective is virtual simulation in nursing education? ›

Meta-analysis results showed that virtual reality technology significantly enhances could better improve nursing students'' theoretical knowledge [(SMD = 0.97, 95% CI [0.48, 1.46], p < 0.001)], practical skills (SMD = 0.52, 95% CI [0.33, 1.46], p < 0.001), skill retention, (SMD = 0.52, 95% CI [0.33, 0.71], p < 0.001), ...

Can anyone use Shadow Health? ›

Shadow Health is available for undergraduate and graduate nursing, as well as for novice nurses in healthcare organizations.

What are the negative effects of Simulations? ›

The main disadvantage of simulations is that they aren't the real thing. People may react differently when faced with situations in the real world. For example, they are more likely to panic if there is real danger.

How to prepare for nursing simulation? ›

Find Out as Much as You Can About Your Simulation Day

Complete virtual simulations if assigned. Practice using simulation equipment during OPEN LAB/SIM practice. Review techniques and procedures used in standard patient care situations such as taking vital signs and assessing heart, lung and bowel sounds.

What are the disadvantages of simulation as a teaching method? ›

Time: Creating simulations can be time-consuming, making it difficult for companies with tight deadlines or limited resources to develop effective simulations. The time investment required to develop and implement simulation-based learning may not be feasible for all organizations.

How many nursing schools use simulation? ›

A study showed that 96% of all accredited nursing schools use some form of simulation, but many struggle with curriculum integration and limited utilization, faculty preparedness, program support and sustainability, as well as limited quality clinical experiences.

What is the future use of simulation in nursing education? ›

This increased realism will help students develop clinical judgment and decision-making skills in a safe and controlled environment, readying them for real-world practice. The future of simulation in nursing education will also support teamwork and interprofessional collaboration.

How much is Shadow Health? ›

The virtual patient program was supplied to the students for this study at no out-of-pocket cost via a grant from Shadow Health. The usual fee is $99 per student for lifetime access to the program.

Why is Shadow Health good? ›

Shadow Health boasts a vast library of diverse patient cases covering a spectrum of medical conditions. From chronic illnesses to acute emergencies. students have the opportunity to engage with virtual patients facing a myriad of health challenges. This diversity ensures a well-rounded learning experience.

How long does Shadow Health take? ›

Most students finish in 3 hours, but you can exit and resume the assignment as needed. The other assignments in Shadow Health are available for you to explore, but are not a task requirement. Here are some video tutorials to assist you with completing Shadow Health.

What are the benefits of simulation in healthcare education? ›

Simulation exercises provide:
  • Reproducible curriculum for all trainees.
  • Instant performance feedback.
  • Improved psychomotor skills.
  • Enhanced clinical decision-making.
  • Fostering of multidisciplinary teamwork.

Which are reasons that simulation is commonly used in nursing education? ›

Safe environment: Simulations provide a safe and controlled environment for nursing students to practice their skills without risk to actual patients or themselves. The simulation lab is a safe place to make mistakes, learn from them and refine techniques without compromising patient safety.

How does simulation help students? ›

Simulations promote the use of critical and evaluative thinking. Because they are ambiguous or open-ended, they encourage students to contemplate the implications of a scenario. The situation feels real, and thus leads students to engage with the activity more enthusiastically and interactively.

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