Simulation in Nurse Teacher Education - Preservice Teachers' Experiences of Basic Structures and Utilization of Simulation-Based Learning

Abstract

Using simulation as a method of teaching and learning has become more prevalent on both the national and international levels. We developed and implemented an educational simulation-learning event for second-year nurse teacher students of the University of Eastern Finland, which is carried out every year. This study aims to explore how the students considered their abilities to master all the stages of a simulation exercise, and what the students felt they had learned from the learning event. The data were collected using a questionnaire with both quantitative and qualitative components. The quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive statistical methods and the qualitative data using inductive content analysis. The majority of the students stated that they were able to distinguish between the stages of a simulation-learning event. However, the actual simulation-specific concepts were not familiar to all the students while describing the stages. More than two-thirds of the students were confident in their ability to use their own skills to plan and execute a simulation-learning event in a health care setting after participating in the simulation event. A majority of the students believed that the simulation event increased their knowledge and skills, especially in terms of the use of simulation, the importance of the teacher' s role, and teamwork. In regards to nursing and teaching practice, the remarkable role of the teachers in charge of planning and implementing a simulation event is worth noticing, as well as the exact use of adequate concepts to describe the phenomena related to simulation learning events.