Methods: The study used a within-group, pre-post test design with twenty-three students of a nursing school in central city in the People’s Republic of China. Students were divided into four groups of five to six students. Facilitated by the same teacher, the four groups performed simulations in four different days. For each group, three simulation scenarios with high-fidelity simulator were implemented. In each group, students alternated to practice as the nurses in three scenarios. At the end of the simulations, every student performed as the nurse and the observer. The three scenarios were designed based on the case of a patient with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The objectives of the simulations were to take care of the COPD patient with acute exacerbation and perform individualized health education. COPD-related knowledge questionnaires were used to measure the knowledge level before and after the simulations. The Student Satisfaction and Self-confidence in Learning Scale (13 items), the Simulation Design Scale (20 items) and the Educational Practices in Simulation Scale (16 items) were completed at the end of the simulations to measure students’ perception of High-Fidelity Simulation.
Results: The student knowledge increased significantly from pretest to posttest. All the simulation scales are five-Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The means and standard deviation of the three scales were 4.28±0.45, 4.32±0.44 and 4.39±0.50 respectively.
Conclusion: In this study, High-Fidelity Simulation can significantly improve the disease-related knowledge of junior BSN students. High-Fidelity Simulation received relatively high scores for students’ satisfaction and self-confidence. Student perceived high-fidelity simulation as an effective teaching strategy. However, further study is needed to explore the specific way it integrates with baccalaureate curriculum.
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