Methods: An experimental group-randomized design was used to compare the intervention group, which received structured prebriefing and the control group, which received customary orientation activities. This study was conducted at a university school of nursing in Canada. Baccalaureate nursing students (N = 76) in a traditional four-year program, who were enrolled in a fourth-year medical-surgical course, participated. Competency performance, clinical judgment, and the perceptions of the prebriefing experiences in each group were examined, in addition to the relationship between simulation performance and students' self-rated prebriefing experience. Scores from the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument and the Prebriefing Experience Scale were analyzed using parametric and non-parametric statistics.
Results: A statistically significant difference was demonstrated between groups for competency performance (p < 0.001), clinical judgment (p < 0.001) and prebriefing experience (p < 0.001). No relationship was found between students’ self-perceptions of prebriefing experience and the researcher-rated simulation performance.
Conclusion: Theory-based, structured prebriefing can impact nursing student competency performance, clinical judgment and perceptions of prebriefing, and may enhance meaningful simulation learning. A detailed description of the model-based prebriefing intervention worksheet will be provided, and an interactive discussion of possibilities for its use in varied academic and clinical settings, with global applications, will be facilitated. Prebriefing, as the first phase of simulation, has implications for transforming nursing knowledge, education and practice throughout the entire simulation process, and beyond.