Seeking reality through the unreal: Interviewing high-fidelity human patient simulation in undergraduate nursing education

Abstract

This article examines the use of high-fidelity mannequins in simulation scenarios as used in nursing undergraduate education. Notwithstanding a lack of robust support in the research literature regarding outcomes, these mannequins have been broadly taken up by educators. Employing a form of posthuman inquiry, I explore how the use of high-fidelity mannequins may affect the student nurses’ relation with real living bodies, and therefore the people they eventually look after. Ways to mitigate the potential side-effects of the medium are offered, including a reframing of the simulation scenario.