Improvement of nursing students' learning outcomes through scenario-based skills training.

Nurcan Uysal

doi:10.1590/1518-8345.1310.2790

Abstract

Objective: this study analyzed the influence of scenario-based skills training on students' learning skills.Method: the author evaluated the nursing skills laboratory exam papers of 605 sophomores in nursing programs for seven years. The study determined the common mistakes of students and the laboratory work was designed in a scenario-based format. The effectiveness of this method was evaluated by assessing the number of errors the students committed and their achievement scores in laboratory examinations. This study presents the students' common mistakes in intramuscular and subcutaneous injection and their development of intravenous access skills, included in the nursing skills laboratory examination.Results: an analysis of the students' most common mistakes revealed that the most common was not following the principles of asepsis for all three skills (intramuscular, subcutaneous injection, intravenous access) in the first year of the scenario-based training. The students' exam achievement scores increased gradually, except in the fall semester of the academic year 2009-2010. The study found that the scenario-based skills training reduced students' common mistakes in examinations and enhanced their performance on exams.Conclusion:this method received a positive response from both students and instructors. The scenario-based training is available for use in addition to other skills training methods.

Highlights

Nursing education is a compilation of theory and practice components, and covers cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning fields[1]
The exam control lists used for each skill in the nursing skills laboratory examination (NSLE) was analyzed to produce the study data
The author examined all the NSLE control lists administered in the fall semesters between the years 2007 and 2012, and considered the skill steps marked as “Not Done” by the exam observers as mistakes

Summary

Introduction

Nursing education is a compilation of theory and practice components, and covers cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning fields[1]. The nursing skills laboratory (NSL) is the most important field for psychomotor skills training[2,3]. The purpose of NSL work is to teach nursing students psychomotor skills and nursing care in a safe environment. NSL is a controlled and safe learning environment[1,4]; it gives students the opportunity both to learn psychomotor skills and combine theory with practice, allowing them to experience selflearning and helping them to enhance their readiness for an actual clinical environment[5,6]. A variety of simulation methods are included in skills training during NSL. The use of simulations, mannequins and interactive videos, as well as critical thinking and making decisions by different techniques, such as role-playing, are the activities designed to demonstrate the skills and imitate an actual clinical environment[7]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion