Self-Confidence of Nursing Students Related to their Simulation Learning Experience

Abstract

Simulated learning environments are integral to the clinical training process in many nursing programmes.  Active involvement through simulation may promote critical thinking skills and increase self-confidence levels. High-fidelity and low-fidelity simulation may impact students’ self-confidence differently due to the differences in their ability to project a real-life scenario. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of high-fidelity and low-fidelity simulation on self-confidence among student nurses. The study was an analytic cross-sectional in design and took place in a public women’s university in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Princess Nourah University. The College of Nursing has access to both low and high fidelity simulation Center. A total of 85 participants were included in the sample and used questionnaires to compare the effect of high-fidelity and low-fidelity simulation on self-confidence among student nurses. The data analysis methods used were frequency percentages, arithmetic mean, Standard Deviation and Pearson correlation. About 74.1% of the respondents were between 19-21 years of age, and 70.4% had a GP of 3.55-4.  In addition, 95.1% had not practiced in a hospital before. Students were “hesitant” about their self-confidence after a low-fidelity simulation and “confident” after a high-fidelity simulation. The high-fidelity simulation technique had statistically significant effects on self-confidence compared to low-fidelity simulation.  Nursing students who are put through the high fidelity simulation exhibit high degrees of self-confidence relative to their counterparts who are subjected to the low fidelity simulation training. Similar to the existing literature, the findings from the current research backed up this position.

Keywords: High-fidelity simulation training, Low-fidelity simulation training, Nursing Students, Patient simulation, Self-confidence.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-15-20

Publication date:May 31^st 2019