Nursing students’ perception on the effectiveness of emergency competence learning through simulation

Abstract

(1) Background: Simulation is a part of the day-to-day of the learning method in health sciences. The objective is to determine if the clinical simulation is useful for learning in the emergency setting, from the point of view of the nursing students. (2) Methods: A pre-and post-test exploratory study with an analytical and quasi-experimental design was used. The population is made up of nursing students from the Seville Red Cross Nursing Centre, who conducted a simulation exercise in the form of a drill for the care of multiple victims. A specific questionnaire was employed as a tool to analyse the dimensions of satisfaction, confidence and motivation, clinical experience, and decision making and technical abilities. (3) Results: There were favourable significant differences in the set of global responses, with p < 0.0001 for the “satisfaction” dimension and d = 1.25 for the “large” size of the effect, and p < 0.0069 for the “confidence and motivation” dimension and d = 0.58 for the “moderate–large” size of the effect. (4) Conclusions: The results are similar to those obtained in other studies in the scope of the 4 dimensions studied, thus coming to the conclusion that the perception of the nursing students on learning through clinical simulation is positive and favourable.