Case: ACL Reconstruction

This is the role card for the SP who will portray a patient with an injury to the ACL in the role play. It contains the background and medical information to use for preparing the SP for the role play. The patient has come to the Outpatient Department of a hospital for the first time after being injured the day before. The nurse helps with filling out the admission form and take the patient's medical history.

(Please adapt the name, age, address, phone number and any other details to match your SP's character and context.)

These are the instructions for the SP portraying the patient with an ACL injury. It includes information on consent, students' backgrounds, meeting details, and descriptions of the tasks included in the role play: taking a history, explaining an upcoming surgery, checking vital signs, and taking a blood sample.

(Please adapt the details to match your context.)

This is the role card for the nurse or nursing student who will portray a nurse called to the Outpatient Department to help a patient that does not speak Japanese. It includes a checklist of tasks for the nurse role to complete in the role play, which will be evaluated by the examiner, including chief complaint, medical/medication history, family history, and lifestyle.

(Please adapt the checklist to match your goals & context.)

In this task, the nurse is interacting with the patient following the doctor's examination and diagnosis, which is ACL reconstruction surgery. After greeting the patient as a nurse from the Inpatient Department, the nurse role player explains the treatment by checking the patient's understanding, giving information about the surgery, and explaining recovery using an information booklet.

(Please adapt the checklist to match your goals & context.)

This is the nurse's role play card for the third task of the ACL patient role play. On the first day after surgery, the nurse checks on the patient: how they are feeling, if they have any pain, etc. The nurse then checks the patient's vital signs: temperature, blood oxygen, pulse and breathing, and blood pressure.

(Please adapt the checklist to match your goals & context.)

This is the fourth and final task for the nurse in this role play. One week after the patient's ACL reconstruction surgery, the nurse comes to the patient's room to check on their condition and take a blood sample. After drawing blood, the nurse finishes by telling the patient what to expect in the coming days leading toward discharge.

(Please adapt the checklist to match your goals & context.)

This is the role card for the examiner who will evaluate the nurse's role play interaction. It consists of a checklist coordinating with the nurse's role play card and should be used by the examiner to assess the role play. This is the evaluation for the initial patient contact, which includes asking about the chief complaint and patient history.

(Please adapt your checklist content and score values depending on your context, for example, adding Communicative Skills)

This is the checklist with which the examiner can evaluate the nurse's explanation of treatment and the surgery and recovery process. The task takes place immediately following the doctor's examination and diagnosis. The examiner checks the nurse's explanation of the surgery as well as use of an informational booklet to help explain the recovery process.

(Please adapt your checklist content and score values depending on your context.)

The is the examiner's checklist for the third task in the role play. On the first day after surgery, the nurse checks on the patient and then checks the patient's vital signs. How the nurse enters and exits the interaction is evaluated, as is language use.

(Please adapt your checklist content and score values depending on your context.)

According to the Clinical Pathway, one week after surgery the nurse needs to draw blood from the patient to run tests. In this task, the examiner evaluates the nurse's checking on the patient, taking of a blood sample, and giving advice using the ACL information booklet.

(Please adapt the checklist to match your goals & context, for example, adding more Communicative Skills.)

These are the test results the nurse role player can use to help prepare for the second task of the role play, in which the nurse helps confirm the patient's understanding of the doctor's examination and diagnosis. 

You can find ACL Consent Forms which can be referred to when creating sample consent forms for the patient prior to undergoing ACL reconstruction surgery23. Please be careful to give full citation and attribution and use it only for educational purposes. It should explain the procedure and risks, and include the signature of confirmation. In the second role play task, the nurse could introduce the form, cover the main points, and ask the patient to read it over and bring it back on the day of hospital admittance.

You can find post-operative information and advice online (which can be used for educational purposes) about patient Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Reconstruction to help with recovery and rehabilitation.24