Congratulations to Ash Scott, the 2026-2028 Elizabeth Kenny McCann Scholar.
May 27, 2026
The Elizabeth Kenny McCann Scholar Award is named for the school's acting director from 1968 to 1971, whose credo was "I am a nurse first, and a teacher a close second." The purpose of the award is to support and enhance teaching and learning pedagogy and scholarship in the School of Nursing by building on the faculty's strength and capacity in educational research.
Mr. Scott proposes:
Developing and evaluating an AI-driven hybrid simulation tool for medication administration education in undergraduate nursing.
Medication administration is a high-stakes nursing competency, yet preparation remains fragmented across curricula. Simulation has emerged as a widely adopted pedagogical method that uses structured, artificial experiences to replicate real-life clinical situations in a safe and controlled setting. However, existing simulation tools fail to integrate the psychomotor, cognitive, and communicative dimensions of medication administration within a single, realistic clinical encounter. This leaves a preparation gap with implications for patient safety and graduate readiness for practice.
EPISODE (Enhanced Practice for Integrated Simulation of Drug-related Encounters), an AI-driven hybrid simulation tool, will address this gap. Developed for tablet deployment, EPISODE will integrate QR-coded wristband scanning on a physical manikin with an AI-powered conversational interface, enabling students to complete medication verification and patient counselling within a single scenario. AI-generated end-of-scenario feedback will support structured reflection.
The overall aim of this two-year project is to develop and evaluate EPISODE as a feasible, usable, and acceptable tool for undergraduate nursing medication administration education. Phase One (July 2026 – March 2027) involves development with UBC's Emerging Media Lab alongside a needs assessment combining a program-wide survey of BSN students and educators with focus groups, informing scenario design. Phase Two (April 2027 – June 2028) involves a feasibility, usability and acceptability pilot (n=20-30) using the System Usability Scale, the Acceptability of Intervention Measure, implementation indicators, facilitator field notes, and individual interviews analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, Nursing Rounds, and conferences, generating transferable design principles to support future simulation-based medication administration education.
