Considering the significance of soft skills in every career path, it’s increasingly important to use educational trainers that emphasize soft skills development while keeping students interested and engaged. Research shows that skills such as empathy, understanding, and sensitivity are especially important in healthcare settings. These eight wearable trainers are perfect for helping students develop patient-centered care skills alongside technical skills.
1. RealCare™ Geriatric Simulator
The award-winning RealCare™ Geriatric Simulator teaches soft skills to high school students, post-secondary students, and more. It lets users personally experience 11 challenges commonly faced by older adults. Students will learn what it’s like to have stooped posture, limited range of motion, visual impairment, and more. Participants can develop empathy and understanding toward our geriatric population by wearing the simulator while completing basic tasks, allowing them to fully understand how these physical limitations affect daily life.
This Allen College assistant professor studied the effects of geriatric simulation scenarios on his graduate occupational therapy students. Here’s what he learned.
2. Hemiplegia Simulator
Our Hemiplegia Simulator allows users to experience paralysis on one side of their body. This helps them with soft skills development by giving them an understanding of patients’ disabilities due to a stroke or similar condition. The included curriculum features a fully immersive experience as well as a reflection exercise so students can connect their experiences to the real world.
Mineral Area College in Park Hills, MO, included the Hemiplegia Simulator in their creation of a Geriatric Sensory Workshop. See the result.
3. RealCare® Pregnancy Profile® Simulator
This wearable pregnancy vest, which simulates the final stages of pregnancy, is ideal for fostering empathy and sensitivity (in fact, vests like these are often called “empathy bumps.“) As students experience weight gain, elevated body temperature and other physical impacts of pregnancy, they’ll begin to understand the real-life considerations of having a baby.
4. Geriatric Sensory Impairment Kit
Use the Geriatric Sensory Impairment Kit to create interactive experiences that develop nursing soft skills such as sensitivity, empathy, and understanding. It helps students understand common sensory challenges faced by older adults as well as practice geriatric nursing skills. The kit comes with simulators for hearing impairment, arthritis, and geriatric tremors. Use the included four-lesson curriculum to explore topics such as hearing loss, the impact of aging on bones, and understanding tremor in geriatric patients while students experience these challenges first-hand.
5. Geriatric Medication Management Simulation Kit
This Geriatric Medication Management Simulation Kit is great for teaching soft skills to high school students, post-secondary students, and more. This unique tool helps participants build empathy and an understanding of the challenges experienced by geriatric patients. Users will experience a loss of tactile sensation and visual impairments while trying to manage several prescriptions. The included two-lesson curriculum covers the topics of medication management for older adults and patient-focused care.
Learn how a CA career program uses the Geriatric Sensory Impairment Kit and other tools to prepare their students for on-the-job experiences.
6. Elder Abuse Training Kit
Our flexible Elder Abuse Training Kit includes comprehensive lessons on four types of elder abuse: physical, neglect, sexual, psychological and financial. Select the content that best fits your needs, and use the included skin conditions and scenario cards to create realistic situations where students can learn to recognize the signs of elder abuse, its risk factors, reporting the violence, and its prevention. With lessons and student workbooks, this kit is truly an in-depth experience for teaching empathy and care.
7. Wearable Auscultation Trainer
The Wearable Auscultation Trainer is perfect for teaching nursing soft skills such as respect, patient dignity, and sensitivity. It lets students practice rib palpation, stethoscope placement, sound recognition, and patient care skills. Place the trainer on students, standardized patients, or manikins to give students a variety of skills training opportunities. They can practice soft skills such as patient dignity and communication as they auscultate with the trainer on real people.
8. Concussion Education Kit
Use the Concussion Education Kit to help students understand the effects of a concussion, how it feels, and how to prevent and treat this injury. This interactive kit features supplies for up to 10 participants to experience a concussion simulation simultaneously. It helps with soft skills development such as building empathy and respect for those dealing with a concussion.
Learn more about the ways this interactive kit can help students understand, treat and prevent sports concussions.
More Resources
Looking for more tools to teach empathy in healthcare? We suggest:
- Reviewing our free guide, “Classroom Ideas to Help Students Develop Empathy Toward Older Adults:”
- Exploring our blog posts, “12 Wearable DIY Simulations Health Science Instructors Can Use Tomorrow” and “6 Strategies for Teaching Sensitivity Towards Geriatric Patients”
