Effects of the use of human patient simulators on cognitive skills and confidence levels of nursing students
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Abstract
Typical classroom and clinical settings do not adequately prepare nursing students to care for patients experiencing an acute myocardial infarction (MI). Human patient simulators (HPS) are a tool which can be used to provide practice of nursing and clinical decision-making skills. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of classroom lecture and the use of HPS in teaching nursing care specific to an acute MI on nursing students’ cognitive skills and confidence levels. This is a replication of a study by Brannan, White, and Bezanson (2008). The organizing framework is experiential learning. This study will be conducted at a small university on the East Coast. A convenience sample of 100 junior-level students will be used, 50 students from the fall semester of its introductory medical/surgical nursing course and 50 from the spring semester of this same course. Methods of data collection are to include the Acute Myocardial Infarction Questionnaire and the Confidence Level tool, administered to each group of students as both a pretest and posttest. The results of the study will benefit nursing faculty in determining the effectiveness of using HPS as a learning tool with their students.