Nursing Students' Experiences with Computer Simulation-Based Communication Education

Socioemotional Skills in the Teaching-Learning Process Mediated by Medium- and High-Fidelity Clinical Simulation in Nursing Students: Protocol for a Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

In nursing education, contact with real scenarios implies the design of favorable experiences to develop prioritization, reasoning, critical thinking, and management skills that support future practice. In the context of the teaching-learning process, simulation emerges as a support strategy, but its use and management require the knowledge and appropriation of teachers. Clinical simulation during education promotes growth in technical skills and aptitudes such as critical thinking, emotional management, organization, delegation, and teamwork. The culmination positively impacts the student, reflecting on their confidence, security, and adaptability to unexpected or unknown situations and risks.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this scoping review is to determine the socioemotional skills described during the teaching-learning process mediated by medium- and high-fidelity clinical simulation in nursing students.

METHODS

The main concepts and limits of the research area will be determined according to the 5 phases of a scoping review proposed by Arksey and O'Malley. Research articles and postgraduate theses published between 2010 and 2023 in English and Spanish will be considered. Dissertation-type documents, book chapters, editorials, abstracts, and articles focused on clinical simulation among nursing professionals will be excluded. The articles will be retrieved from databases available at the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, along with CINAHL, Scielo, and PubMed. The search strategy will be based on the Population-Concept-Context framework. Article selection will be carried out by 2 independent evaluators who will review titles and abstracts in stage 1 and the full text in stage 2. A database of retrieved articles will be built with the variables of interest. A qualitative thematic analysis will be conducted by 5 independent reviewers to provide an overview of the literature, focusing on identifying similarities and contrasts between studies and contributions related to the aspects of social skills described in nursing students.

RESULTS

The investigation has not yet started. The findings aim to focus on variables within the academic environment that, when correlated with the clinical simulation experience, may determine student learning. The working hypothesis is that students who experience greater satisfaction or possess better communication skills also demonstrate superior performance during high-fidelity simulation activities. The most relevant results will be contrasted considering the stated objective and knowledge gaps. Key aspects will also be compared with other reviews addressing related topics such as communication, self-efficacy, and self-confidence. Skills described by other authors that were not considered in the initial literature review will also be mentioned.

CONCLUSIONS

Educational institutions are responsible for including learning experiences in controlled environments such as medium- and high-fidelity simulation to ensure the acquisition of technical capabilities and additional socioemotional skills. Recognizing and managing emotions is necessary to provide adequate care for users of health care services and for the increased effectiveness of professionals.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Open Science Framework p4ays; https://osf.io/p4ays.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

PRR1-10.2196/56436.

Exploring facilitation in virtual simulation in nursing education: A scoping review

Objective

To systematically map existing research regarding the reflective feedback in virtual simulation in undergraduate nursing education.

Methods

A scoping review was conducted based on the Arksey and O'Malley framework and the PRISMA-ScR.

Results

We included 41 studies from 15 different countries. The simulation interventions allowed for interaction between the student and the virtual patient, the software, faculty, peers, or a combination of two or more of these. Students valued reflective feedback during and after the simulation.

Conclusions

Our review emphasizes the importance of a human in the loop. Feedback before, during, and after the simulation is possible in virtual simulation where the facilitator can pause the virtual scenario and stimulate reflections during the simulation to obtain deep learning. Virtual simulation provides opportunities to give feedback from the software, such as cues or direct feedback.

Innovation

There is a lack of focus on the feedback process and there is a need to revitalize the role of facilitators in a virtual simulation to determine their relative contribution in this process. Several studies reported the usefulness or the effect of virtual simulation on learning processes, but most lacked emphasis on investigating the significance of including a human in the loop.

The effects of child health nursing curriculum-integrated therapeutic activities on therapeutic communication skills of nursing students: Non-randomized study

BACKGROUND

Effective therapeutic communication with hospitalized children is increasingly recognized as crucial for child-centered care in all healthcare settings. The quantity and quality of training nurses receive to promote and enhance nurse-child communication are vital. This study aims to evaluate the impact of planned therapeutic communication activities for the Child Health Nursing Course on the therapeutic communication skills of nursing students.

METHOD

A non-randomized study with a pre-test and post-test design was conducted with 28 junior nursing students in Turkey. Data were collected using an 'Information Form' and the 'Therapeutic Communication Skills Scale for Nursing Students'. The Child Health Nursing Course curriculum incorporated lectures with various activity designs to enhance students' therapeutic communication skills.

RESULTS

The curriculum-integrated therapeutic activities significantly decreased non-therapeutic communication skills in students, with a large effect size [d: 0.827, 95% CI: (0.393)-(1.296)]. Furthermore, the activities led to a significant increase in Therapeutic Communication Skills-1 with a large effect size [d: -0.943, 95% CI: (-1.416) - (-0.513)], and improved Therapeutic Communication Skills-2 with a large effect size [d: -1.285, 95% CI: (-1.827) - (-0.804)].

CONCLUSION

The findings indicate that therapeutic activities effectively improved the therapeutic communication skills of nursing students.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Integrating therapeutic activities into the Child Health Nursing Course curriculum is recommended to enhance nursing students' therapeutic communication skills.

Effects of video-recorded role-play and guided reflection on nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence: A two-group pretest-posttest study

AIM

The study examined the differences in nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence between the experimental and control groups before and after educational intervention and to predict the factors affecting their core competencies.

BACKGROUND

Educating nursing students in empathy and caring behaviors before entering clinical practice is challenging.

DESIGN

We used a two-group pretest and post-test quasi-experimental design.

METHODS

First-year nursing students from medical schools in Taiwan participated in our study. Data were collected between March and May 2022. The learning method used with the intervention group was role-playing with videos and guided reflection. The control group was exposed to traditional curriculum. Empathy, caring behavior and competence were measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy- Healthcare Providers, the Caring Behaviors Scale and the Nursing Student Competence Scale.

RESULT

A total of 72 participants (40 in the experimental group and 32 in the control group) were included in the final statistical analysis. The response rate was 92%. Statistically significant differences in nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence were observed between the experimental and control groups (p < .05). The η² effect levels were 0.083, 0.223 and 0.270. Higher caring behavior scores were significantly associated with higher nursing student competence scores (β = 0.81, 95% CI:0.66-0.97).

CONCLUSIONS

Education based on video role-play and guided reflection improved empathy, caring behavior and nursing competence in first-year nursing students.