THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN PATIENT SIMULATION ON BACCALAUREATE NURSING STUDENTS' TRANSFER OF LEARNING

Nursing faculty members are utilizing interactive teaching tools to improve nursing student's critical decision-making skills; one method that has been found to be potentially effective is human patient simulation (HPS). The purpose of this time series design study was to determine whether undergraduate nursing students were able to transfer knowledge and skills learned from classroom lecture and a HPS clinical to the traditional clinical setting. Over the course of a semester, students were observed prior to a respiratory lecture, following the respiratory lecture, and following a simulation clinical. The researcher collected quantitative data to assess participants during specific points of their instruction to determine if transfer of learning had taken place. Participants included were entry level nursing students. The findings indicated that students were able to transfer knowledge and skills learned from the HPS setting to the traditional clinical setting. An assessment rubric was also used to determine clinical competence in the traditional clinical setting. The results provided evidence that students' perceived clinical competence and actual clinical competence was enhanced following HPS clinical. Results of the study also demonstrated that there was a positive correlation between students' self-perception of clinical competence and their actual competence following HPS clinical. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries)