Skills Lab

What it is

Skills Lab breaks 19 clinical skills into steps, with the reason behind each one: IVs, blood transfusion, central lines, NG tubes, Foley catheters, trach suctioning, chest tubes, and more. Each skill covers the purpose, indications, equipment, key safety points, and common mistakes.

Then you practice three ways. Put the key steps in order. Spot the error in a scenario where a nurse does the skill. Answer NCLEX-style questions on it. When you are ready, check it off.

Print a checklist for any skill to bring to lab. Quick references for isolation types and oxygen devices are built in too.

What you'll learn

• The steps of 19 core nursing skills
• The rationale behind each step
• Key safety points and common mistakes
• How to catch an error when someone else does the skill
• Isolation precaution types and oxygen delivery devices
• How skills show up in NCLEX-style questions

How it helps you

NCLEX tests clinical judgment, using NCSBN's Clinical Judgment Measurement Model. Every NURSYN game is built on the nursing process. Skills Lab works these ADPIE steps: Planning, Implementation.

• Covers Planning and Implementation: doing the right step, in the right order, for the right reason
• Knowing the why lets you think through a check-off instead of reciting it
• Spot the error builds the safety mindset every NCLEX safety question tests
• Printable checklists match what you will be signed off on

How to play

1. Pick a skill from the list
2. Learn the steps and the why behind each one
3. Practice: put steps in order, spot the error, and answer NCLEX-style questions
4. Mark it as checked off
5. Print the checklist for lab day

Clinical topics covered

Sources

The clinical content and the teaching approach behind this game line up with these references.

1. Guideline for Isolation Precautions (2007): Executive SummaryCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Standard Precautions plus Contact, Droplet, and Airborne Precautions.
2. QSEN Competencies (Pre-Licensure KSAs)Quality and Safety Education for Nurses. The six quality and safety competencies, including Safety and Teamwork and Collaboration.
3. The NCSBN National Simulation Study (Hayden, Smiley, Alexander, Kardong-Edgren, and Jeffries, 2014). Journal of Nursing Regulation, 5(2). doi:10.1016/S2155-8256(15)30062-4Journal of Nursing Regulation. Found no significant differences in clinical competency, nursing knowledge, or NCLEX pass rates when up to half of traditional clinical hours were replaced with high-quality simulation.