This paper reports on an Australian experience with the MicroSim software used for the preparation of undergraduate, inter-professional paramedic nurses. The paramedic nurse course focuses on preparing graduates for practice in rural communities where there are opportunities to enhance the productivity and skill retention of the local emergency health workforce.

The students were introduced to the software during their second year of a four-year, double-degree programs to enhance their ability to conduct primary and secondary surveys and respond in a timely and clinically appropriate manner. Their responses were required to be relevant to the nursing, paramedic, and inter-professional preparation for nursing as reviewed by the course thus far. The students were assessed as individuals and teams and were invited to describe observations of their own responses and those of the broader inter-professional team.

Aggregate results will be reported. The students were highly enthusiastic about their participation and assessment, and the method continued its third year in 2009. Examples of student responses to cardiac and trauma clinical scenarios will be demonstrated as two of the most frequent presentation types to the emergency department calls to the ambulance service.

The combination of the use of interactive software and teamwork in simulations that paramedic nurses may experience in rural Victoria was highly successful in promoting confidence, competence, communication, critique, and team-building in this already high achieving group of students.