Nursing students walk a patient's whole life — and learn older-adult care by living it

Most training drills are a single scene. 'Aging With Grace', built by the University of Hawai'i at Manoa's nursing school, is a whole life: students follow one patient, played by a trained actor, through independent living, stroke rehabilitation and long-term care, practising the five things that matter most in older-adult care — what matters to the person, medication, mind, mobility and managing many conditions at once. Across six sessions, 125 students took part; in results published in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, participants' confidence in telehealth care rose significantly and ratings were high. The simulation is now a required part of training for Hawai'i's undergraduate nurses and nurse-practitioner students, and it now teams nursing students with social-work students, as real care does. In a state where nearly one in five residents is 65 or older, its graduates will not have to imagine their patients' journey — they have already walked it.

SDG 4 · Quality education — Mechanism: institutional program