Randomized Controlled Trial of Simulation - Based Teaching versus Traditional Clinical Instructions in Nursing: a Pilot Study among Critical Care Nursing Students

The use of high-fidelity simulation as a substitute for traditional clinical learning experiences in nursing education has gained acceptance over the past decade. Unfortunately, there is little research evidence that demonstrates how well high-fidelity simulation assists students in acquiring and integrating knowledge, skills, and critical thinking into their knowledge base (Weaver, 2011). (1) Instead, most researches have focused on the confidence students’ gain after participating in simulation scenarios. (2 - 4) Therefore, this study was undertaken to compare between the effects of high fidelity simulation and traditional clinical instructions on nursing students’ knowledge and skills acquisition as evidenced by their performance on content-specific examinations as evidenced by their performance on content-specific examinations..