The Use of Standardized Patients as an Educational Strategy in Baccalaureate Psychiatric Nursing Simulation: A Mixed Method Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE

Prior psychiatric simulation experiences required our nursing students to role-play in an unknown area of nursing. Students confidence, clinical satisfaction, and use of clinical skills were negatively impacted leading to unmet course objectives. The aim of this pilot study was to strengthen our baccalaureate senior nursing students' simulation experience in their psychiatric nursing course with the use of standardized patients (SPs) instead of student role-play and measure the impact of this strategy on students' learning, satisfaction, and confidence in an unfamiliar area of nursing.

METHODS

A mixed method explanatory sequential design was used. Participants consisted of a convenience sample of senior nursing students enrolled in their psychiatric nursing course. A quantitative simulation tool and a four-item questionnaire were analyzed after completion of the simulations (n = 47).

RESULTS

Findings of this study identified greater than 80% of students had increased level of learning, confidence, and satisfaction with the SP simulation experience. Nurse faculty were able to overcome simulation barriers, that is, a patient hearing voices, non-verbal signs of depression, and evaluate students meeting course learning outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from this study highlight students' positive simulation experiences. Using SPs as an educational strategy can be effective for students to reach competency, achieve higher knowledge, and improve confidence. It is believed the use of SPs as a simulation strategy in psychiatric nursing will assist students with clinical judgment and better prepare them to meet the needs of vulnerable persons with psychiatric conditions.

An integrative review of adolescent hope

The purpose of this integrative review was to synthesize the published research on adolescent hope using Cooper's (Cooper, H. M. (1989). Integrating research: A guide for literature reviews (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage) five stages. Computerized databases were used to search for relevant studies published between the years 1990 to 2010. Thirty-six studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Variables studied in relation to hope were categorized as antecedent, coincident, and consequent concepts. Two antecedent, ten coincident, and ten consequent concepts of hope were included in the review. The number of statistically significant and non-significant correlations of these variables to hope is presented. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations for future studies are offered.