'Coming ready or not' high fidelity human patient simulation in child and adolescent psychiatric nursing education: diffusion of innovation

This paper is the first to address high fidelity human patient simulation (HFHPS) as a technique to prepare pre-registration nursing students for practice in child and adolescent psychiatric nursing (CAPN). By examining the published literature in a systematic review, no evidence was located that discussed the application of this innovative mannequin-based educational technique for this population. Indeed, mental health nursing preparation generally had minimal literature addressing the adoption of HFHPS. Rogers' (2003) model of the “Diffusion of Innovation” was applied as a lens to explain this observation. His model fitted this observed pattern well and provided a range of explanatory paradigms. It was limited, however, in its predictive ability to suggest when and under what conditions HFHPS might be expected to be adopted by nursing preparation programmes for CAPN. At the conclusion to this examination, the absence of a conversation evident in the mental health or CAPN literature on the preparation of pre-registration nursing students using this educational technique is striking. The potential of this approach to be combined in new ways to better prepare nursing students for the challenges of practice in mental health or CAPN needs extensive examination.