George Mason University: Simulation Impact on Saudi Internship Nursing Students Saeed Asiri - Essay Example

Simulation Impact on Saudi Internship Nursing Saeed Asiri George Mason Introduction Simulation is a technological system that employed as a pedagogical strategy in different fields. Simulation has a long history of utilization in “military, nuclear power, and aviation industries” (Aebersold & Tschannen, 2013). In the past two decades, healthcare organizations have readily used simulation as a pedagogical strategy for teaching nursing and medicine (Aebersold & Tschannen, 2013). Practicing at simulation stations plays a significant role in helping the nursing students improve their skills and performance in a variety of situations and deliver optimal care to ensure patients’ safety (Baptista, Martins, Pereira & Mazzo, 2014). There are different types of simulation in nursing including high, mid, and low fidelity simulations, and several organizations such as International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) support and improve simulation (Aebersold & Tschannen, 2013). Additionally, simulation allows educators to concentrate on their students’ performance rather than focus on patients’ safety and possible errors that could harm the patients (Sideras, McKenzie, Noone, Markle, Frazier, & Sullivan, 2013). In the contemporary age of rapid technological advancement, nursing education should follow this pedagogical strategy and provide the modern generation with high-quality education which would help them practice safely. Improving high fidelity simulation to create a suitable learning environment is particularly relevant in the contemporary age because technology is omnipresent and modern generation is really connected to technology. Cordeau (2010) mentioned that using simulation for undergraduate nursing students helps improve their thinking ability and practice and optimizes their ability to enhance and patients’ safety. High fidelity simulation helps the learners imagine real situations. This type of simulation has a lot of programming and monitoring to improve the teaching and learning experience for the instructors and learners respectively (Dunnington
, 2013). The revolution of technology solves a number of instructional problems such as insufficiency of educators and clinical placement, so the education and learning processes are improved with direct feedback and reduced tendency to cause errors (Partin, Payne, & Slemmons, 2011). Background Some hospitals in Saudi Arabia offer internship programs for nursing students to help them use their theoretical knowledge in practical situations. The limitation of clinical experience among the nursing students on internship is one of the reasons that hospitals use high fidelity simulation in educational programs. It helps the students review what they have learned. The purpose of this study is to investigate internship-nursing students’ experiences with high fidelity simulation as part of their internship program. Nursing simulation being widespread at nursing schools and hospitals in Saudi Arabia indicates the significance of simulation for nursing practice. Also, the significance of studying Saudi internship nursing students’ experiences regarding simulation is to identify the usefulness of simulation as a teaching approach for students under training at hospitals. Literature Review. A review of literature was conducted using the following key words: simulation, students, high fidelity, simulation impact, effectiveness, and self-confidence. Particular focus was given to the relationship of these topics with the context of Saudi Arabia. Some difficulty was faced while finding articles specifically reporting the statistics related to Saudi Arabia. The databases used to locate the required articles included CINIHL, PsychInfo, Medline and Google database. Simulation in Saudi Arabia. Simulation has been a part of education and training as a teaching strategy in Saudi Arabia to inculcate critical thinking ability in the nursing students (Moussa, Aboshaiqah, 2015). A course is offered in King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (KFSH&RC) (2011), whose focus is on critical care and was established for nurses who were interested to work in the critical care areas. Also, KFSH&RC supports this course to improve nurses’ knowledge, skills, and critical thinking ability. Simulation, additionally, has been especially emphasized by the higher education and hospitals so that it can be ensured that nurses are competent enough to provide holistic care for patients with high level of safety (Arabi, 2013). Arabi stated that high fidelity simulation training concentrates on critical care areas at hospitals which assists nursing and medical students in improving their competences and skills, and consequently, patient safety. Impact of nursing simulation. Hicks, Coke
, & Li (2009) have shown that research about simulation still needs to be stronger because some studies lack the required level of accuracy, sample size, and statistical analysis. Aebersold & Tschannen (2013), and Robinson & Dearmon (2013), mentioned that simulation has a great impact on nursing practices especially in reality of learning new procedures and communication. Also, the simulation can be a strategy for the evaluation of competency among nursing students and nurses (Aebersold & Tschannen, 2013). Many studies reflected positive impact of simulation on nursing students in terms of their increased ability to think critically and their improved clinical competences (Partin, Payne, & Slemmons, 2011; Stirling, Smith, & Hogg, 2012). Self-confidence. High fidelity simulation improves students’ confidence to practice safely. One article showed that high fidelity simulation helps students improve their confidence and self-efficacy (Akhu-Zaheya
, Gharaibeh
, & Alostaz
, 2012). Students may experience anxiety while participating in the simulation activities during the initial simulation sessions (Akhu-Zaheya
, Gharaibeh
, & Alostaz
, 2012; Cordeau, 2010). Collins (2014) found that students expressed their experiences regarding the usefulness of simulation in handover skills; the response was overwhelmingly positive as simulation helped the students raise their level of confidence to execute the handover skills. Research Question How does high fidelity simulation impact Saudi internship nursing students’ in their clinical practices? Methods Design. This research will be conducted as a qualitative study and will use the phenomenological method to allow the Saudi internship-nursing students to express their experiences regarding the simulation as part of their internship program. The students will be free to react positively or negatively on their simulation experience. The participants will be interviewed about their experiences in simulation. Their reflection on how simulation helped or did not help them in practicing properly will be recorded. Sampling. The sample of this study would comprise Saudi internship nursing students. These students will finish their bachelor degree in nursing and taking their internship at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. The number of participants will be 15 students. Five of them will be those who would have newly started their internship period, another five will be in the middle of their internship period (around 6 months), whereas the last five will be in the last two months of their internship. This distribution will help the researcher study the level of experience at three different times during the internship program. Also, the internship students will have different expressions and explanations related to their simulation experience at the clinical settings. Data collection. Data for each participant in this study will be collected through interview and audiotape. This will enable the researcher to access this interview anytime so that the responses can be properly and accurately interpreted. The estimated period of data collection from each participant is one hour. It should be enough to talk about a participant’s simulation experience during internship period. The participants will be asked to share what they think about their clinical experience. This question will trigger their thinking and allow them to express what they feel. References Aebersold, M., & Tschannen, D. (2013). Simulation in nursing practice: The impact on patient care. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 18(2); doi10.3912/OJIN.Vol18No02Man06. Akhu-Zaheya, L. M., Gharaibeh, M. K., & Alostaz, Z. M. (2012). Effectiveness of simulation on knowledge acquisition, knowledge retention, and self-efficacy of nursing students in Jordan. International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning; doi:10.1016/j.ecns.2012.05.001. Arabi, Y. at el. (2013). Building capacity for quality and safety in critical care: A roundtable discussion from the second international patient safety conference. Annal of Thoracic Medicine 8(4); doi: 10.4103/1817-1737.118480. Baptista, R. C., Martins, J. C., Pereira, M. F., & Mazzo, A. (2014). High-fidelity simulation in the nursing degree: Gains perceived by students. Revista de Enfermagem Referência 1: 131-140. Collins, G. (2014). Using simulation to develop handover skills. Nursing Times 110(8): 12-14. Cordeau, M. A. (2010). The lived experience of clinical simulation of novice nursing students. International Journal for Human Caring 14(2): 9-15. Dunnington, R. M. (2014). The nature of reality represented in high fidelity human patient simulation: philosophical perspectives and implications for nursing education. Nursing Philosophy 15: 14-22. Hicks, F. D., Coke, L., & Li, S. (2009). The effect of high-fidelity simulation on nursing students’ knowledge and performance: A pilot study. National Council of State Boards of Nursing 27. King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center. (2011). Courses for Saudi nurses. Critical care course. Retrieved from http://www.kfshrc.edu.sa/wps/portal/En/!ut/p/c0/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os_jQEH9nSydDRwODAHdzA09jR_dgP3dPYwMDQ_2CbEdFABznDZ8!/?WCM_PORTLET=PC_7_UTOC9B1A0GFD40I3AMK1VO30O1_WCM&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/kfshrc_lib/KFSH_BP/Nursing/Career+Opportunities/Specific+information+for+Saudi+Nurses/Courses+for+Saudi+Nurses. Moussa, M., & Aboshaiqah, A. E. (2015). Strategies to foster critical thinking skills in nursing education in Saudi Arabia. American Research Journal of Nursing 1(1):1-9. Partin, J. L., Payne, T. A., & Slemmons, M. F. (2011). Students’ perceptions of their learning experiences using high-fidelity simulation to teach concepts relative to obstetrics. Nursing Education Perspectives 32(3): 186-188. Robinson, B. K., & Dearmon, V. (2013). Evidence-based nursing education: Effective use of instructional design and simulated learning environments to enhance knowledge transfer in undergraduate nursing students. Journal of Professional Nursing 29(4): 203-209. Sideras, S., McKenzie, G., Noone, J., Markle, D., Frazier, M., & Sullivan, M. (2013). Making simulation come Alive: Standardized patients in undergraduate nursing education. Nursing Education Perspectives 34(6): 421-424. Stirling, K., Smith, G., & Hogg, G. (2012). The benefits of a ward simulation exercise as a learning experience. British Journal of Nursing 21(2): 116-122. Read More