Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Medical Education
Date Submitted: May 28, 2025
Date Accepted: Jan 22, 2026
Voices of Innovation: A Reflective Report on Integrating AI-Simulated Mental Health Patient Scenarios into Undergraduate Nursing Education in the UAE
ABSTRACT
Background:
Severe shortages of mental-health clinical placements in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—have driven nurse educators to seek alternative experiential learning strategies.
Objective:
To describe the development, implementation, and preliminary evaluation of an AI-driven simulated-patient program designed to prepare undergraduate nursing students for mental-health practice.
Methods:
We created authentic psychiatric scenarios using a large-language-model engine and embedded them within a structured simulation cycle (prebrief, scenario, debrief) aligned with INACSL Standards of Best Practice. This reflective implementation report outlines the program’s design, deployment, and key lessons learned.
Results:
AI-simulated psychiatric patients successfully provided standardized, learner-centred experiences that partially offset real-world placement shortages. Transitioning from ChatGPT Plus to ChatGPT Pro resolved technical interruptions, ensuring seamless voice interactions and preserving scenario fidelity. Faculty-guided debriefings reinforced clinical reasoning, therapeutic communication, and emotional-intelligence skill development.
Conclusions:
AI-driven simulations offer a scalable, sustainable supplement to scarce clinical placements in mental-health nursing education. Future research should examine knowledge retention, competency development, cost–benefit trade-offs, and patient-safety outcomes.
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Copyright
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