The last decade was characterized by the rapid development of information technologies and the rapid development of digital learning tools which can help educators reach more potential learners, improve outcomes, and transform post-secondary education at universities, colleges, vocational schools, and job training programs. Digital learning tools in nursing education are particularly suitable for training clinical decision making skills (Peters et al. 2018), as clinical decision making cannot be captured through observation of direct action alone (Dechenes et al. 2011). In this context, decision making requires not only purely technical aspects, but in particular critical-reflexive and social- communicative skills. The younger generations that have grown up in our environment of rapid developments in mobile devices may become more motivated to learn when digital technologies are incorporated in education. The use in clinical environments of mobile devices loaded may help close the gap between theory and practice and enhance the evidence-based practice of undergraduate students.
In the project the consortium intends to make use of an innovative serious game for training nursing skills and create relevant learning situations that fit well with nursing training in all partner countries and in general on a European level. The learning game “Take Care” is designed to deal with complex nursing case work by letting the learners explore and experience simulated situations. This creates the possibility of training and testing professionally relevant skills in practice-oriented, but digitally simulated working environments. The game is an innovative way of training a variety of skills that cannot be learned from books very well but need to be trained before nurse practitioners see real work environments. Digital care simulations have been developed in which learners have the opportunity to practice decision-making in complex and multidimensional care situations without actually endangering themselves or people in need of care. The challenges in nursing education in Europe with regard to aspects of digitialisation are very similar. At the same time, there are hardly any tools in the form of ‘Take Care’ in the international arena. In order to support prospective nursing staff in the training of clinical decision-making and to train digital skills, we plan to further develop the tool for nursing education contexts on a European scale, adapting its situations to other countries. The game can be used in a multiplier mode that ensures that players can support each other. Players will be sensitized to recognize special needs of others in order to see that they will profit themselves through supporting others.