Effectiveness of simulation-based learning on student nurses' self-efficacy and performance while learning fundamental nursing skills

Issue title: Recent Innovations on Biomedical Engineering

Guest editors: Wen-Hsiang Hsieh

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Lin, Hsin-Hsin

Affiliations: Department of Nursing, Tajen University, Pingtung 907, Taiwan. E-mail: hhlin@tajen.edu.tw

Abstract: It was noted worldwide while learning fundamental skills and facing skills assessments, nursing students seemed to experience low confidence and high anxiety levels. Could simulation-based learning help to enhance students' self-efficacy and performance? Its effectiveness is mostly unidentified. This study was conducted to provide a shared experience to give nurse educators confidence and an insight into how simulation-based teaching can fit into nursing skills learning. A pilot study was completed with 50 second-year undergraduate nursing students, and the main study included 98 students where a pretest-posttest design was adopted. Data were gathered through four questionnaires and a performance assessment under scrutinized controls such as previous experiences, lecturers' teaching skills, duration of teaching, procedure of skills performance assessment and the inter-rater reliability. The results showed that simulation-based learning significantly improved students' self-efficacy regarding skills learning and the skills performance that nurse educators wish students to acquire. However, technology anxiety, examiners' critical attitudes towards students' performance and their unpredicted verbal and non-verbal expressions, have been found as possible confounding factors. The simulation-based learning proved to have a powerful positive effect on students' achievement outcomes. Nursing skills learning is one area that can benefit greatly from this kind of teaching and learning method.

Keywords: Self-efficacy, fundamental nursing skills, simulation-based learning

DOI: 10.3233/THC-151094

Journal: Technology and Health Care, vol. 24, no. s1, pp. S369-S375, 2016