Performance of Caring: Using Theater Pedagogy and Simulation in the Nursing Curriculum

Zoom Room 1

This presentation will detail the collaboration between the Theater and Nursing Programs at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort. These two programs have collaborated for years at USCB in the form of using actors for simulated patient encounters. Recently, this collaboration has grown into a new course co-taught by Theater and Nursing faculty. This class, Performance of Caring, brings together theater and nursing students in the pursuit of empathy and clinical skills. Not only has this work lead to more realistic simulations, it has also encouraged many of the nursing students to practice empathetic skills by having them inhabit patient roles. For theater students, it has provided a novel and practical outlet for the training they have received in their acting classes. We will detail the kinds of exercises and training we have brought to bear on the challenges we've faced and offer ways in which our experiences may be applicable to other classrooms and interdisciplinary collaborations.