Introduction
Today, many colleges and universities across the globe have become interested in the idea of simulation-based learning and the creation of situations where students use their theoretical knowledge in practice. This pedagogical approach is characterized by multiple possibilities to introduce scenarios, provide resources, and allow students to demonstrate their skills in decision-making and problem-solving. Despite evident advantages of simulation labs for nursing students, including safety, reality, and repetition, such challenges as low concentration, lack of attention, and poor interaction also occur and must be solved (Aebersold, 2018). Most students are attracted by working at the simulation lab, playing active roles, and applying their skills in different tasks (Ghasemi et al., 2020; Rajaguru & Park, 2021). At the same time, they need support and additional guidelines to fulfill their goals and establish professional relationships with other stakeholders in this simulation-based learning process. The development of practical skills is vital for nursing students, and preceptors play an important role in improving academic attention, advancing performance, and promoting positive attitudes toward education at the simulation lab.
Purpose Statement
Many factors determine the quality of modern education, and students have to use their best skills and knowledge to complete tasks defined by their educators. However, capturing student attention and establishing effective collaborations are not always easy, and more projects are developed to prepare participants for real-life settings and responsibilities. This project aims to discuss the peculiarities of the work at the simulation lab, strengthen interactions between nursing students and their preceptors, and improve their attention to be ready for a real hospital environment. It is not enough to instruct students before their simulations. Educators have to make sure that their guidelines describe all the necessary details of a working process but leave some space for personal decisions and analysis. Another goal of this project includes promoting communication and self-assessment as means for students to identify their strong and weak qualities and encourage change. Simulation-based learning provides real and safe environments for students and their potential patients (Ghasemi et al., 2020). In this project, the benefits of the chosen pedagogical strategy and interpersonal relations will be applied to create successful registered nurses (RNs) with appropriate practical skills in the future.
Setting
There are many ways to attract nursing students to work at the simulation lab, and the creation of helpful settings is a significant step. In this project, settings should endorse more interaction between participants and grab students’ attention to simulations in a learning environment. There are several steps on how this project will be developed, namely the introduction of tasks, also known as prebriefing, reflection to work done or debriefing, and communication during a working process. Preceptors should make sure that they set the required tone for the upcoming experiences, explain long-term and short-term goals and objectives, provide necessary details about each scenario, and underline the worth of participation (Baily, 2019). Thus, it is recommended to have a room for prebriefing where students and their educators could comfortably gather and discuss all aspects of their future work.
Communication at the simulation lab should never be neglected if it does not contradict the initial instructions and guidelines. When students get a chance to ask questions while working, comment, and exchange information, they see how real hospital settings may be organized and contribute to the development of their skills. The task of an educator is to clarify the essence of a simulation lab, which is not evaluation but practice. Communication helps to capture more attention of students (who might want to obtain explanations and hints) and preceptors (who might observe recent achievements and offer possible improvements). A final element of the project setting includes an opportunity to examine the work, also called debriefing. This period focuses on discussions, personal reflections, and subjective or objective judgments where participants evaluate their behaviors and results (“Simulation debriefing,” n.d.). In other words, the current project settings are characterized by enough time and space for discussion, communication, and evaluation of nursing students’ work at the simulation lab with respect for their attention and interactions with mentors.
Student-Mentor Communication
Regarding the unpredictability of work at simulation labs, students develop various attitudes toward the offered tasks and the level of their responsibility. On the one hand, anxiety and decreased student confidence may be observed because of new environments and the reality of problems, which affects the level of attention to simulation tasks (Aebersold, 2018). Some nursing students react negatively due to limited explanations or the inability to ask questions and clarify concerns before their practice. Tutors think that general guidelines are usually enough to encourage students to take the first steps and be involved in other simulation activities. As a result, many areas remain poorly discussed, and students are not ready for simulations and hospital settings. Thus, the first component of this evidence-based project is communication between students and preceptors before working at the simulation lab or prebriefing.
Post-Simulation Discussions
Another component is based on debriefing activities and the necessity to discuss the achieved outcomes. This practice allows identifying weak and strong aspects of simulations and learning personal attitudes towards the offered work. Open questions must be non-judgmental because students need to see their contributions and feel respect and confidence (“Simulation debriefing,” n.d.). Students get a chance to understand that simulation labs are created not to examine their level of knowledge only but to help them manage laboratory space, expand clinical scenarios and decision-making, and receive individual training (Padilha et al., 2019). Modern students, also known as Generation Z, have short attention spans and expect practical and useful material that brings value (Hampton et al., 2019). Post-simulation debriefings help students develop analytical and critical thinking skills and pay more attention to what they can or cannot do at the moment.
Evaluation Plan
In the nursing simulation lab, the task is to create real-life environments and observe how students behave as future RNs with a number of obtained skills and knowledge. However, there has to be a moment to evaluate the process and examine the results at the end of every simulation. In this evidence-based project, the evaluation plan focuses on the possibility of improving student attention and interaction with preceptors at the simulation lab. Honkavuo (2021) offers to evaluate the pedagogical validity of communication while simulation through “the participants’ experiences and narratives” (p. 9). In this case, nursing students’ narrations will encourage their interest in simulation activities and gather enough information for evaluation. During debriefing, young people share their experiences, answer questions, and demonstrate their readiness for hospital settings. It is possible to compare their behaviors and participation during prebriefing and evaluate the difference. Most students are expected to feel empowerment and confidence because of using their knowledge and skills and succeeding in simulations. In contrast, some students may be challenged by unpredictable obstacles in decision-making and problem-solving.
Self-Evaluation
The evaluation of student interest and interactions takes some time and additional preparations. For example, simple and short quizzes about the expectations and real observations can be effective for student self-evaluation. This activity does not take much time, which is appropriate for short attention spans, but it contains the necessary data about what was expected and done at the simulation lab. There is also some emotional experience associated with interpersonal communication and interaction (Honkavuo, 2021). Students improve their knowledge and formulate an opinion about their willingness or rejection to cooperate with people as care providers, colleagues, or mentors. With time, less time to learn the instructions and guidelines will be required, and students will be able to focus on their practical skills, knowledge, and analyses of situations.
Limitations
Although the offered plan, ideas, and evaluation contribute to better academic performance among nursing students, certain limitations cannot be ignored. Most challenges are related to human resources and the necessity to add training sessions and daily meetings. In this project, the problem is that students do not demonstrate their interest in simulation activities and interaction with their mentors, which means they need more information and examples on improving their academic practice. Hospital settings experience severe human resource problems, which results in a great shortage of properly organized clinical cases. Besides, educational facilities need the active participation of nurses and approvals from patients for their issues to be implemented in simulations. In other words, to reduce the problems with interaction, increase the students’ interest in learning activities, and capture attention to the tasks, more people have to be involved, meaning more costs and time for planning. Therefore, lack of human resources remains the major limitation of the current project. Additional limitations may be connected to equipment and classrooms where simulations should be organized. Not all colleges and universities are ready to invest in creating new simulation labs due to restrained incomes.
Summary and Future Recommendations
Impact
Understanding how to involve students in a learning process and use a simulation lab as the main setting is not a simple task. Nursing educators have to weigh all pros and cons of this activity and consider what attracts and challenges students at different stages. Today, more students are interested in checking their knowledge via online quizzes and tests because it does not require much time or manipulation. However, working at the simulation lab is an opportunity to face a real hospital environment with patients who have their problems and the staff who complete their tasks. The chosen practice setting has to be improved by means of communication and meetings before and after simulations. Students should understand what they do right or wrong and what to do next to succeed as RNs in the future. The impact of this practice is great as it shows why not all students demonstrate the same attitude toward simulation-based learning. Open discussions, questions, answers, and guidelines play an important role in building strong professional relationships between students and their preceptors.
Recommendations
Simulation labs are not common for all educational facilities, so students have to appreciate this chance to find practical application to their theoretical knowledge before entering a real hospital environment. To raise learners’ interest in participation, it is recommended to include statistical reports and show the difference between students who choose simulation-based education and students who do not have this opportunity. In addition, young people could have various experiences and knowledge about simulation labs and their worth. Thus, it is necessary to organize additional pre-interventional tests and ask what they think about this pedagogical approach. The analysis of their answers allows tutors to recognize problematic areas and concerns and solve misunderstandings. Finally, interactions between nursing students and their preceptors may be improved by the implementation of online technologies in their learning processes. Sometimes, a quick discussion helps make a decision and avoid mistakes or complications. The role of online communication during a working process has to be thoroughly examined in future projects.
Conclusion
This evidence-based project creates a solid background in nursing when students should move from theory to practice and demonstrate what knowledge they have obtained at the moment. It was necessary to create a setting where participants, including nursing students and their precentors, could communicate and discuss all aspects of their work at the simulation lab. The components of the project, like prebriefing and debriefing activities, were introduced to prove the worth of communication. Modern students have a short attention span, and they need as much new information as possible not to lose interest in training. Therefore, communication at different stages of learning actions is recommended as it helps develop practical skills, strengthen cooperation, and advance problem-solving. Despite their intention to obtain freedom and independence in decision-making, their simulation practice is a good chance to identify if they are ready for true hospital settings and responsibilities for others’ lives.
References
Aebersold, M. (2018). Simulation-based learning: No longer a novelty in undergraduate education.OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 23(2).
Baily, K. (2019). Pre briefing in medical simulation, an often overlooked but important step. Healthy Simulation.
Ghasemi, M. R., Moonaghi, H. K., & Heydari, A. (2020). Strategies for sustaining and enhancing nursing students’ engagement in academic and clinical settings: A narrative review. Korean Journal of Medical Education, 32(2), 103-117.
Hampton, D., Welsh, D., & Wiggins, A. T. (2019). Learning preferences and engagement level of generation Z nursing students.Nurse Educator, 45(3), 160-164.
Honkavuo, L. (2021). Ethics simulation in nursing education: Nursing students’ experiences. Nursing Ethics, 1-13.
Padilha, J. M., Machado, P. P., Ribeiro, A., Ramos, J., & Costa, P. (2019). Clinical virtual simulation in nursing education: Randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(3).
Rajaguru, V., & Park, J. (2021). Contemporary integrative review in simulation-based learning in nursing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(2).
Simulation debriefing. (n.d.). Healthy Simulation.