Clinical Skills Simulation Resource

Dudley Practice Area

The Dudley Practice Area (DPA) is the Clinical Skills Simulation Learning environment in the School of Nursing and Health Studies at ATU St. Angela’s. The state-of-art facility enhances clinical skills development of student nurses during their four-year degree programme.

The Dudley Practice Area (DPA) constitutes several rooms that are designed and equipped for students to learn clinical, technical and interpersonal skills across a wide range of topics and disciplines related to both general and intellectual disability degree programmes.

The DPA comprises of:

• Two, fully equipped three-bedded wards
• 1 Fully equipped community setting with, kitchen, lounge area, 2 bedrooms, wet room and sensory area.
• One therapy room/general purpose room which is used to facilitation interpersonal skills such as communication, case studies and reviews, tutorials small group seminars, simulation of end-of-life care, and simulation of a dementia care setting.
• Computer programmed Simulation mannequin, Vital Sim (Nursing Annie) Mannequins x 2, Geri-mannequins x 4, Care Mannequins x 5 all of which are used for simulated scenario participation/management and skills training
• Fully equipped nursing station
• Clean utility room with hand wash assessment facility
• Storeroom with rolling stock
• Task training equipment and teaching aids
• Sluice room

Audio Visual Resources

• 2 integrated overhead video cameras located throughout the ward and flat areas, facilitate the remote video recording of clinical skills practice/assessment, care scenarios participation/performance, task development/assessment and interpersonal skills practice/assessment.
• Self-videoing facilities are also available which enable students to video their own performance in skill development and care scenario participation, for self and peer review.
• All students have access to a wide range of pre-recorded skills videos relevant to the fundamental skills curriculum for undergraduate general and intellectual disability nursing students, on the e-learning platform 

Student Support Service

The Dudley Practice Area (DPA) is the clinical skills simulation learning environment situated in Áras Michael (lower level), it welcomes students who wish to build on their skills, enhance their learning and confidence at their own pace in a friendly, safe learning environment outside their timetabled learning.

The supports and extra practice time is available to all students on the undergraduate and postgraduate nursing programmes. This extra support is available following their skills classes, so they can develop their practical skills, preparing them for their OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Exams), but also for their practice placement in the practice setting.

In 2019, the DPA facilitated almost 2000 student visits outside of their timetabled hours and even throughout the pandemic the DPA continued to safely support students’ practice, while following national guidelines.

Our friendly staff can assist with individual Learning and any individual Education Needs Summary (LENS) reports and can offer helpful advice and guidance to those who wish to avail of the support.

The DPA can be booked for practice sessions through the online booking system available on Moodle