title: [Real life simulations to train nurses].
abstract: Nurses must confront critical potential life threatening situations daily. These are very tense situations which must be solved in a rapid, adequate manner in coordination with the rest of the professional health team. How to deal with these crises, which usually follow an established protocol, must be learned and practiced in a safe environment which provides the greatest possible guarantee of success. The best way to acquire this knowledge and skill is through a real life simulation. Nurses from various disciplines carry out their work in the Training Center for Critical Crises at the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital in Santander, the only center in Spain which runs this type of simulation. In 2003, this center initiated a specific training simulation for nurses whose purpose is to increase scientific-technical knowledge to the maximum and accelerate the learning of non-technical social and cognitive fundamentals within the working environment of a professional health team. The following article describes a simulation meeting these characteristics, its teaching methods, advantages, importance for professional health teams, and its repercussions on patients.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla (Quirófano COT), Centro de Entrenamiento en Situaciones Críticas Fundación Marcelino Botín.
authors.forename: Alberto Jesús
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Alonso Felpete
authors.forename: Rebeca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abajas Bustillo
authors.forename: Inmaculada
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: De la Horra Gutiérrez
authors.forename: Verónica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hoz Cuerno
authors.forename: Gema
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Llata Agüero
authors.forename: Luis Mariano
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: López López
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sánchez Herrán
mesh_terms: D004506:Education, Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008348:Manikins
vernacular_title: Simuladores de escala real en el entrenamiento de enfermería.