Bringing heart failure to life using the Vimedix simulator.

here are approximately 920,000 people living with heart failure in the UK (British Heart Foundation 2019), with heart disease being the second leading cause of death in the UK (Office for National Statistics 2016). The Vimedix simulator has the potential to transform nursing students’ learning and increase knowledge of cardiac physiology, which can be built upon to develop an understanding of cardiac pathophysiology. The Vimedix simulator enables a more creative and innovative student-centred approach to teaching as opposed to traditional lectures. The Vimedix simulator enables students to visualise normal and altered cardiac anatomy and physiology in real time, thus allowing them to understand what is happening in the heart and help students to links cardiac pathophysiology with the symptoms of heart failure (Van Horn 2014). These symptoms can have a profound effect on activities of daily living, therefore enhancing undergraduate education in this area can facilitate the nursing care and management of patients with cardiac conditions; which could improve patient outcomes and prevent acute hospital admissions (Geniuno 2018). This session aims to generate discussion and provide a practical demonstration of how the Vimedix simulator might be incorporated into the teaching of heart failure for nursing and other healthcare professional students. References British Heart Foundation (2019) BHF Statistics Factsheet UK https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/our-research/heart-statistics/heart-statistics-publications [Accessed 11th October 2019] Geniuno, J.M (2018) Effects of simulation-based educational program in improving the nurses'self-efficacy in caring for patients' with COPD and CHF in a post-acute care (PACU) setting Applied Nursing Research 39, 53-57 Office for National Statistics (2016) Deaths in England and Wales (series DR) :2016 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredinenglandandwalesseriesdr/2016 [Accessed 11th October 2019] Van Horn, E.R, Hyde, Y.M, Tesh, A.S and Kautz, D.D (2014) Teaching Pathophysiology Strategies to Enliven the Traditional Lecture Nurse Educator 39 (1) 34-37