Simulating medical isolation: Communicatively managing patient and medical team safety

Reducing hospital acquired or associated infections (HAIs) is a national public health priority. HAIs pose risks to patients, visitors, and medical personnel. To better understand how to communicatively manage safety in medical isolation, data was collected with nursing students simulating medical isolation in a high-fidelity simulation with a medical mannequin with C. difficile. Observations of nursing students and faculty revealed four distinct communication practices: social support, patient education, humor, and storytelling. Conclusions include recommendations to intentionally design these communication practices into high-fidelity medial isolation simulations and scale up these communication practices in routines of safety