Health Care Simulation Expert Dr. Kim Leighton to Deliver Annual Spunt Memorial Lecture: Nursing Education at a Crossroads
Health Care Simulation Expert Dr. Kim Leighton to Deliver Annual Spunt Memorial Lecture: Nursing Education at a Crossroads
NLN 2022 Education Summit Set for Sept. 28-30 at The Mirage in Las Vegas
Washington, DC — Respected educator, researcher and mentor in health care simulation education Kim Leighton, PhD, RN, CHSE, CHSOS, ANEF, FSSH, FAAN, will be the featured speaker at this year’s Debra L. Spunt Memorial Lecture, funded by Laerdal Medical, at the 2022 Education Summit at The Mirage in Las Vegas.
In her talk on Friday morning, September 30, titled Nursing Education at a Crossroads, Dr. Leighton will describe ways to transform nursing education to integrate lessons learned from simulation research into traditional clinical instruction—lessons that would improve woefully inadequate learning outcomes and better prepare new nursing graduates for practice. Among a litany of professional accomplishments through decades of experience, Dr. Leighton spearheaded the development of best practices in simulation education endorsed by multiple interprofessional organizations.
“Dr. Leighton does not mince words in issuing an urgent call to action to better prepare nursing school graduates for the perfect storm they face in transitioning to practice. Their challenges include tackling responsibilities of caring for a diverse patient population in an environment beset by severe staffing shortages, patient frustration known to spill into abuse, and professional burnout born of the COVID-19 impact,” said NLN Chair Kathleen Poindexter, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF, interim associate dean of academic affairs at Michigan State University in Lansing. “In sharing the wisdom gained from creating simulation health care solutions for the classroom, adaptable to the bedside, Dr. Leighton’s presentation is sure to be of great value to all of us in these challenging times.”
NLN President and CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, said, “I anticipate a worthwhile and thought-provoking presentation as always by Dr. Leighton. The Spunt Lecture has proven over the years to be one of the most popular and best attended events at our Summit. We remain grateful to our lead partner, Laerdal Medical, for providing the support so essential to establishing and continuing this series of annual lectures.”
Dr. Leighton is the executive director of Itqan Clinical Simulation and Innovation Center at Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar, where she provides service to a community of multidisciplinary clinical practitioners. A hallmark of her 20-plus years in education is facilitating learning with simulation, consulting, and mentoring others.
She is a past president of the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning, where she led development of the first standards of best practice for simulation. Additionally, she is currently on the Board of Directors for the Society for Simulation in Healthcare.
Dr. Leighton’s research focuses on development and psychometric analysis of evaluation tools for simulation education, which have been disseminated through her website to simulation practitioners in 85 countries. Her current work explores the effectiveness of various clinical education environments. Dr. Leighton is co-editor of the award-winning book Simulation Champions: Fostering Courage, Caring, and Connection. She began her career in emergency nursing.
For more information about the 2022 NLN Education Summit, visit Summit.NLN.org.About the National League for Nursing
Dedicated to excellence in nursing, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education. The NLN offers professional development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its nearly 45,000 individual and 1,100 institutional members, comprising nursing education programs across the spectrum of higher education and health care organizations. Learn more at NLN.org.